Former England skipper puzzled by India's decision to skip practice match

New Delhi: India, who suffered a whitewash in a recent three-match Test series against New Zealand, is now preparing to face Australia in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy starting on November 22 in Perth. Former England captain Michael Vaughan has raised eyebrows at India's choice to bypass warm-up matches before the series opener in Perth.

India, having recently endured a three-match Test series whitewash against New Zealand earlier this month, is now gearing up to face Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy starting on November 22 in Perth. Former England captain Michael Vaughan has expressed his surprise over India’s decision to skip warm-up matches ahead of the series opener in Perth.

“I can’t get my head around a team like India only wanting to play an intra-squad game leading into a series against Australia in their backyard,” Vaughan told Fox Cricket.

“I just can’t see how you get yourself in that competitive mindset of consequence by playing an intra-squad game. Time will tell,” he added.

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan suggested that India may have missed a crucial opportunity to adjust to the challenging bounce in Perth by opting out of a warm-up match at the WACA before moving to the Optus Stadium. He remarked, “I’m surprised that this Indian side didn’t want at least one game of cricket, and the WACA’s the perfect venue because it’s a similar pitch to Optus (Stadium), so you get used to the bounce.”

“These players have a different kind of mindset to what we had, whereas we probably needed more games,” he continued.

“They’re playing 12 months of the year and get straight into it, but it’ll be intriguing to see how both sets of players settle on that first day when they’re playing the longer form. The modern players may believe that they don’t need (tour matches). They think they get enough cricket throughout the year and they can react and just adapt. I just like to see teams win and stick a marker down.”