India’s Test and ODI captain, Shubman Gill, has emphasised that the national team needs enough time to prepare before each red-ball series in order to be able to compete consistently for the ongoing 2025–27 cycle of the World Test Championship. As of right now, India is in seventh place after winning just four of nine games.
Gill emphasised how there hasn’t been much time for preparation lately due to the international series’ strict schedule, particularly in the game’s longest format. Just four days after the Asia Cup, India hosted a two-match series against the West Indies. Since most of the players had returned from Australia, the Indian side had less than a week to practice even before the series against South Africa.
“As you can see, we didn’t have much time to prepare for the last two Test series we played, which is one of the recommendations that I was really interested in. Playing in India on the fourth day after another match in a different nation is difficult.
Gill stated at the pre-match news conference prior to the first ODI, “especially when you’re travelling on long tours.”
He went on to say that even if India had defeated the Proteas, the larger problems would still have persisted because proper planning and preparation are the first steps towards true success in the five-day format.
We know we need to prepare well to be able to win Test matches all over the world, so I don’t think it would have made much of a difference [in terms of proper preparation] even if we had won the series against South Africa. For me, preparation is really important, and I didn’t think we had much time to get ready after the Asia Cup, when we played the West Indies series, or even after we returned from Australia,” Gill said.
With series losses to South Africa and New Zealand, respectively, India has experienced two home Test whitewashes after going over ten years without a home loss. Therefore, if India hopes to compete in the 2027 WTC Final, this is the best course of action.
Home