Team India is considered one of the best touring sides in the world in the longest format of the game, especially in the last few years along with the likes of the World Test Champions, New Zealand. India’s rebirth as a Test nation in SENA countries began in 2018 on a South Africa tour, where they couldn’t win the series, but they avoided a whitewash by a stupendous win in Johannesburg in the third Test.
After which they beat Australia twice in their own backyard (in 2018/19 and 2020/21) and are 2-1 ahead in yet-to-be-completed five-match series against England and are on the heels of another tough overseas assignment in South Africa, where all of this began four years ago and a series win has eluded them.
Asked by a fan about the reasons behind India’s success on overseas tours, former Pakistan skipper Salman Butt on his YouTube channel said, “India prepare for it. If you see, India’s ‘A’ teams go to England, Australia. Even now, they were on the tour of South Africa.”
Butt mentioned that other teams aren’t doing that and this practice is helping the Indian team and its bench strength a lot, giving the example of pacer Mohammed Siraj, who has been the story of the year for Virat Kohli and Co. as far as Test matches are concerned.
“I’ll give you an example. A high proportion of Mohammed Siraj’s First-class matches came outside India, where he took part in four-day games. Other countries aren’t doing that. They aren’t sending their ‘A’ teams for four-day cricket like India. Earlier, you used to see Australia ‘A’ coming to Pakistan, or even Sri Lanka ‘A’ or South Africa ‘A’ used to come here.”
Butt said that since the countries are moving further away from red-ball cricket, the players don’t have the mindset for the same, which is why the home teams are able to dominate in probably every series.
“Now, the countries are moving away from long formats. Justifiably, the players are not prepared for that. They can’t develop the mindset for Test cricket,” he further said.
