Dravid, Laxman could have toured ahead, feels Vengsarkar

Players picked only for the forthcoming Test series in New Zealand would have benefited with a tour of that country with an India ‘A´ squad at the end of Ranji Trophy final in the middle of last month, feels former captain and chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar.

Players picked only for the forthcoming Test series in New Zealand would have benefited with a tour of that country with an India ‘A´ squad at the end of Ranji Trophy final in the middle of last month, feels former captain and chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar.

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“I feel if an India ‘A´ team’s tour of New Zealand had been organised soon after the end of Ranji final and the squad included Test stalwarts Rahul (Dravid) and (VVS) Laxman, besides M Vijay, Dhawal Kulkarni and L Balaji, they would have got used to the conditions better for the Test series in the absence of any practice games,” Vengsarkar told PTI on Saturday.

The Indian team, which has already reached New Zealand to commence their tour with a Twenty20 International at Christchurch on February 25, would plunge into the Test series starting at Hamilton, four days after the conclusion of the five-match ODI rubber on March 14 at Auckland.

Vengsarkar felt that while the players who are already in New Zealand would get used to the vastly different conditions there by playing in the Twenty20 and ODI series, those picked only for the Test series would not have this benefit with no practice games scheduled before the three-Test rubber.