In preparation of the June tour of England, the Board of Control for Cricket in India is said to be about to implement initiatives to assist India’s international players stay connected with white-ball and red-ball cricket in the next few months.
Preparations for the Test series could be a concern as the Indian cricket board is looking to break the team’s losing streak in the longest format and also start the new season on a strong note given the upcoming 2025 Indian Premier League.
Cricbuzz’s report says that the committee will ask players to participate in periodic red-ball training sessions and tailored activities to guarantee they stay in good shape for the England tour as well as the IPL.
With the BCCI trying to maintain the issue private, the specifics of these events remain hazy despite the evidence provided in the report. The BCCI and the team management, however, convened in Dubai to consider how they would carry this out and would meet after the Champions Trophy.
Although the BCCI is aiming to prevent it from carrying further, players have traditionally been expected to give their full attention to franchise cricket but the Indian team’s current losing run has been noticed.
IPL 2025 is scheduled to start two weeks later on March Saturday 22; the Champions Trophy final is set for March 9 (Sunday). In the longest format, Rohit Sharma and company have not be been optimal. A whitewash loss to New Zealand on their own ground followed by a series defeat in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. This guaranteed that the Indian team did not qualify for the World Test Championship final 2025 for the next season, which ran from 2023 to 2025.
The BCCI would expect these measures to enable the Indian team to return to winning form, and a statement victory on English ground would be the ideal start to get the team back under way. It remains to be seen, however to what extent the measures taken will strike a balance between formats.
