Team India must play Tests only in Bangladesh, West Indies and Zimbabwe!

Only the Board of Control for Cricket in India, says Haresh Pandya, could have thought of inviting a team like the West Indies to provide practice to the Indian cricketers before they embark on a difficult tour of Australia for a four-Test series later this year.
It is becoming increasingly clear that when it comes to playing five-day Tests abroad, save Bangladesh, the West Indies and Zimbabwe, Indian cricketers appear to find them rather too boring, long and tiresome. At least it seems so if you check their record in the second decade of the 21st century.

They give the impression to have neither the inclination nor intensity to fight it out for five days. Consequently, many of them appear to be playing Test cricket outside India because, well, they have to. But you can sense that their heart is not totally in the game and their commitment and sincerity leave a lot to be desired.

How else can you explain their perpetual pathetic performance in the four Tests in England in 2011 and another four Down Under later that year? Then, in South Africa and New Zealand, they offered a mixed bag when they could have turned tables on the hosts.

In the recent series in England, they probably surprised themselves by winning the second Test at Lord’s, after the first ended in a draw, and taking an unbelievable 1-0 lead. But before the reality of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and company winning a Test abroad against a tougher opponent could sink in, they surrendered the next three Tests in a jiffy, without offering even a token fight or resistance.

They must have heaved a mighty sigh of relief when the Test series ended. They were a transformed lot once they shed the white flannels and came back in their favourite blue as the one-day series began.

Shining like stars they usually are in Indian conditions, they thrashed their Test tormentors in the second and third One-Day Internationals after the first was washed out. Two matches are yet to be played, but they are in no danger of losing the series even if England bounce back, which is highly unlikely given the hosts’ record in this format.