India's mauling at the hands of South Africa in the just completed ODI series (0-4, including losses by 154, 106 and 80 runs and 9 wickets) will not be helping their preparation for the World Cup.
Given that the tour to New Zealand was abandoned because it was believed that defeat would not be good preparation ("There is no point in touring there because any loss will only raise pressure on the team like the last time"), I wonder if perhaps they chose to pull out of the wrong tour.
Monday, 4 December 2006
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By pulling out from NZ tour, India gets enough time (from late Jan, Feb, March) to prepare in conditions similar to WI - sluggish, low-bounce pitches. Some of the pitches in India are already like that - and even otherwise its easier to simulate those conditions.
India is tentatively scheduled to play home (ODI ONLY) series against SL and/or WI in that period. This is perhaps as close to a good preparation as one can hope for.
Certainly playing in Nz, and that too ODIs as well as test matches, is not the ideal way to go about it.
Although, as you rightly said, neither is the SA tour, but then no cricket body has the luxury to get 5-6 months of ideal preparing time! Right now, almost all teams are playing in conditions dissimilar to WIndian - Eng in Aus, SL in Nz, Ind in SA and WI in Pak.
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