Why is India A vs India Match not Showing on TV? BCCI bans Practice Match from Broadcasting for This Reason!

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As the final rehearsal before the England Test series, the Indian team is playing an intrasquad practice match from Friday (June 13).

The India and India A squads are set to test their skills before the series begins, which will also be the start of a new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.

But unfortunately for the fans, the match is not being shown live on any platform, television or digital. This is a deliberate decision made by the team management and head coach Gautam Gambhir. The match is being played behind closed doors, with no access granted to broadcasters, media personnel, or the general public.

"June13-16: Closed Intra squad game. No vision access to Media/Broadcast. On the final day of the squad game, a player/member of support staff will be made available to the media," said BCCI in a statement.

Although the India A vs England Lions unofficial matches were streamed on JioHotstar and shown in TV, the intrasquad match is not being telecast for an array of reasons.

Why is India A vs India Match not showing?

The primary reason behind this blackout is strategic secrecy. With India preparing for the upcoming Test series against Bangladesh, the coaching staff wants to ensure that no tactical or player-specific information- such as combinations, form, or bowling plans are leaked to the opposition or the public. Gambhir and his team have opted to conduct this match in a strictly controlled environment to simulate internal competition while maintaining confidentiality.

Consequently, no live streaming, television broadcast, or even live commentary is available. At most, fans and followers may get occasional score updates or post-match summaries through official BCCI sources or select cricket websites. However, even those updates are likely to be limited.

In essence, the match is being treated as a high-intensity, internal assessment tool rather than a public event, which is why fans currently have no access to view or follow it in real-time.

India A and India Squads

India A Squad: Abhimanyu Easwaran (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel (vice-captain/wicket-keeper), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shardul Thakur, Ishan Kishan (wk), Manav Suthar, Tanush Kotian, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Harshit Rana, Anshul Kamboj, Khaleel Ahmed, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sarfaraz Khan, Tushar Deshpande, Harsh Dubey

India Test Squad vs England: Shubman Gill (captain), Rishabh Pant (wk/vice captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav