Team India is widely considered as among the best traveling sides in the longest format over the past few years. India secured series wins in Australia (twice; in 2018-19 and 2020-21), and produced an impressive performance in this year's tour of England, where they lead the five-Test series 2-1 (the last Test of the series will be played in July 2022). The side is currently on the tour of South Africa – a place where India is yet to win a Test series.
Much of the credit behind India's resounding Test success over the past few years is given to the duo of Virat Kohli – the Test captain – and former head coach Ravi Shastri. However, former Pakistan cricketer Salman Butt pointed out an important aspect of Indian cricket and insisted that the rest of the teams have stopped focussing on it.
When asked by a fan behind India's success in away tours, Butt said that India send their ‘A’ teams ahead of the senior side's tour, which helps the players significantly.
“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 said, when a fan asked him about India's success in Australia earlier this year.
“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.”
{{/usCountry}}“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.”
{{/usCountry}}The former Pakistan skipper further insisted that players “cannot develop the mindset” to play in the longest format because the countries are drifting away from it.
“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,” said Butt.