Did team management decline BCCI offer to send players early to SA?

Bengaluru, January 10: India's 72-run loss to South Africa in the first Test at Cape Town has turned the focus on the lack of practice for visitors ahead of the match.

But now, it has come to the light that the BCCI had indeed offered the team management an option to send some of the Test plasyers like Cheteswar Pujara, M Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane and R Ashwin to South Africa well ahead of the tour.

India left to South Africa on December 28 and the first Test started on January 5. In fact, a tour game was scheduled ahead of the first Test, but a mail from the BCCI informed that the training match was cancelled without specifying any reasons for it.

According to a report in the Indian Express the BCCI officials had even suggested that players who are part of the Indian Test squad like Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan could skip the ODI and T20 parts of the series against Sri Lanka last month.

But they said the team management did not show any interest in the offer.

However, Indian skipper Virat Kohli had said that the team did not suffer from not landing early in South Africa.

"We were very well prepared. I don't think we felt any lack of preparation. Even they got out for 130 in the second innings and they play here all the time. It was a wicket where things were happening every day. And I think we let ourselves down with the bat, that's for sure." Kohli had said.

On the contrary, Rahul Dravid, the India U19 coach, had requested the BCCI to send the ICC U19 World Cup-bound players early to New Zealand to adjust to the conditions. The BCCI had agreed to the proposal.