KL Rahul and Dhruv Jurel set to join India A squad in Australia for practice match

Rahul has played only three Test matches since September, but with little success. He managed to score just 118 runs in five innings, with one half-century and one duck, during two series. Due to his poor performance, he was dropped for the second and third matches against New Zealand at home. On the other hand, Jurel has not had any game time in the traditional format since his debut series for India against England earlier this year. His only appearance in the New Zealand series was in the opening Test when regular wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant got injured and Jurel had to substitute for him with the gloves in Bengaluru.

According to a report in The Indian Express, the team management and selectors decided to send Rahul and Jurel early to Australia because they did not have enough game time. Moreover, the BCCI cancelled India's only scheduled practice game, against India A, ahead of the Border-Gavaskar series opener in Perth. India will instead have a centre-wicket match simulation, as per the report.

Rohit, speaking to the media in Mumbai after India's humiliating 0-3 defeat on home soil, reckoned that BCCIs' move to have a centre-wicket match simulation will help the players prepare better than facing any of the opposition cricketers.

“We are travelling with a squad of 19 players and only three days were allotted to us. I don’t know how much workload we can get in those three days in terms of getting everyone prepared. The management feels that we’d rather have a match simulation where batters can spend more time in the middle and the bowlers can bowl a lot of balls. That is something that we as a team feel more comfortable doing rather than playing a practice game because game time is not a problem,” Sharma said.

The Indian team will leave for Australia on November 10 and will train at the WACA, the old Test venue in Perth, ahead of the series opener, where the World Test Championship final qualification will be on the line. India, who dropped to the second spot in the points table after incurring their first-ever whitewash on home soil in a Test series, will have to avoid any defeat or more than one draw against Australia to make the WTC final.