In about a week, two sets of players, many of whom were engaged in the IPL, will be squaring off at the World Test Championship final in England. Whichever team — India or Australia — does worse will face one line of criticism. It will be said that playing the IPL so close to the Test final was a mistake, and that players did not have sufficient time to acclimatise themselves.
But such thinking, plausible till recently, doesn’t hold true anymore. The modern cricketer is a model of adaptability, and can go from format to format, from centre to centre, or from continent to continent without his game suffering. This is partly owing to superior fitness and partly because playing competitive cricket (in any format) is good preparation anyway.
Most international series are played these days without first class matches in the build-up. In 1986, India played before the first Test in England, by 2002 it was down to two, and by 2007 there were none at all.
