Replicate South African wickets to get match practice: Pujara

Nagpur [India], Nov 26 (ANI): Indian middle order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara on Sunday said that the pitch curators in India should try and replicate wickets in South Africa and England, so that the team can get enough match practice here.

"Indian team is also playing other formats (ODIs and T20s), so if there are matches scheduled before we either go to South Africa or England, you can't help it, as an individual. You need to be prepared. Even if you are in India, we need to try and replicate wickets in South Africa and England and then try and practice here," the Saurashtra right-hander said in a press conference after scoring a century against Sri Lanka.

"As far as practice games are concerned, I should not be the one commenting. It also depends on schedule and how BCCI plans its tour. But going there little bit early -- a week or 10 days early, and then practicing on those pitches are important," he added.

Earlier, India captain Virat Kohli on Thursday admitted that the management's poor planning affects the team's performance and they are put under scanner for poor results.

Ahead of the second Test against Sri Lanka, the skipper had said that the team is using the ongoing series against the Islanders as a build-up to the upcoming series in South Africa as they have no time to prepare for it otherwise.

Kohli told media, "Unfortunately we get only two days before we fly to South Africa, after this series gets over. So we have no choice than to be in game situation and think of what's coming ahead for us. Had we got a month off, ideally, we would have done proper preparation in a camp sort of scenario. But we have to make do with what we have."

He said that people start judging players for their poor performance but they do not consider the time given to the cricketers to prepare for the game.

"As usual, cramped for time, which I think we need to assess in future because we very easily assess the team when we go abroad, but we don't look at how many days we got to prepare before we go to a particular place to play. Everyone starts judging players when results come after Test matches," he opined.

India will fly out to South Africa for three Tests, six ODIs and three T20Is, just two days after hosting the current series against Sri Lanka. (ANI)

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