Former India cricketer Robin Uthappa is ‘very happy’ with the reports that Shubman Gill has suggested the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) arrange 15-day camps before every Test series. He
called it an ‘insane’ call, which would pay all due respect to a format where India have dearly struggled of late.
Since Gill took over the Test captaincy last year, India have won only four of the nine Tests. They did well to draw 2-2 against England away in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, and gathered some momentum with a 2-0 whitewash at home against a depleted West Indies side, before crashing out to a 2-0 loss against South Africa.
Gill was unlucky in the latter, getting injured midway through the first Test, which left his team a batter short. However, the series did expose the team’s frailties in both countering high-quality spin in home conditions with attrition and patience and taking 20 wickets regularly, which is crucial for Test cricket.
“I think it is an insane call from a leader,” Uthappa said on his YouTube channel. “There cannot be a better call than that. He is taking charge of Test cricket in that sense. It is very good. Before a Test series, a team needs preparation of at least two weeks. We are playing a Test series to win the WTC. So to win that, we cannot win by just playing Test cricket. You have to plan, prepare, and build. You need to give that respect to Test cricket as a board and a team. I am very happy that he brought it up.”
The one issue with the 15-day camp that Gill might face would be the packed cricket calendar. Test series are already low in the list for revenue generation for boards, and thus are usually played with short turnaround in as small windows as possible. Most cricketers today are also multi-format players, who usually arrive to Test rubbers immediately after a white-ball match or the IPL.
It was one of the reasons why, for example, even the Ashes 2025-26 didn’t have a proper warm-up camp for either team.
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