The Hindu : Sport : Cramped schedule may hurt India: Healy

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Wednesday, Dec 19, 2007
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Cramped schedule may hurt India: Healy

Melbourne: Australian great Ian Healy feels that BCCI may just have scuttled India’s chances of winning a landmark Test series in Australia by agreeing to a cramped itinerary which will not give it enough time to acclimatise.

“They didn’t have sufficient thought when doing it. But they have gone along with it for some reason and left themselves short for a series that should be extremely important,” Healy was quoted as saying by the Courier Mail.

“It could be the last time we see three of their legends. The other thing is they know how precious a victory is to their country and it seems to me their administrators haven’t given themselves a fair chance,” he added.

The Indian team landed on Tuesday within a week of winning a gruelling home series against Pakistan and would be in action from Thursday in its only practice match before the Boxing Day Test.

More time needed

Healy felt the visitors needed another fortnight to rejuvenate themselves before the four-Test series against the world champion.

“Another fortnight might have been perfect. They are coming off some hard cricket of late but hard cricket in totally opposite conditions,” the former wicketkeeper said.

“That’s not good. I just think they are going to have to cram too much, too quickly,” he added.

Another former Australian cricketer, Damien Fleming, echoed Healy’s views and said, “My concern with India is that they have played that much cricket they are going to have to keep their energy up in this Test series.”

The bookies in Australia also agree that the “weary” Indians will find it hard to match Ricky Ponting’s men and have the odds against the visitors. — PTI

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