What is the point of warm-up games?

England's convincing win in their tour opener set me thinking about why such a hopeless side was playing the visitors in the first place. Robin Uthappa was probably the only one from the CCI side playing the game who had some sort of a chance to attract the selectors' attention. It then struck me that this was the new BCCI committee's way of thanking Raj Singh Dungarpur, president of the Cricket Club of India.

England's schedule has two tour games. At least their next opponents, the Board President's XI, are likely to be a tad more competitive.

Looking at various tours to India since 2000, this is what I found. I excluded tours by Zimbabwe. The Indian side refers to the side which played against the visiting team in the tour game.

Season	Visiting side	# of tour games	Indian side strength	Series winner/result
1999/2000	South Africa	1	Strong	South Africa
2000/2001	Australia	3	Strong	India
2001/2002	England	3	Strong	India
2002/2003	West Indies	2	Strong	India
2003/2004	New Zealand	1	Strong	Drawn
2004/2005	Australia	1	Strong	Australia
2004/2005	South Africa	1	Strong	India
2004/2005	Pakistan	1	Strong	Drawn
2005/2006	Sri Lanka	0	-	India
2005/2006	England	2	Average	??????

Looking at that table, it does lead me to believe that teams seem to do better when they don't have too many warm-up games. The results for South Africa (1999/2000), Australia (2004/2005), New Zealand and Pakistan certainly point in that direction. So far, touring sides have invariably played against some reasonably strong opponents in the warm-up games. Most of the time it was an India 'A' side or a Board President's XI side or the then Ranji Trophy champions. This time around, England have been taken for a ride by the BCCI, with the ECB not raising a finger!

Coming off second best against strong opposition in warm-up games tends to deflate a visiting side, as Australia found out first-hand against Mumbai almost exactly eight years ago. Winning against weak opposition hides the visiting team's faults and could lead to over-confidence. Of course, it works both ways. A loss against a local side in the warm-up game makes the visiting side that much more focussed and helps them identify the fault lines.

Striking the right balance is tough, but I think the BCCI should make visiting teams play against the strongest possible combinations in the tour games. That is the only way the second [and third] rung of players experience playing against quality players in the touring sides.

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