“Can’t get my head around”: Ex-England star blasts India for skipping practice match ahead of Perth Test

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan questioned Team India’s preparation for the Border-Gavaskar series which is set to begin from November 22.

Vaughan feels the Indian cricket team should have played a tour game instead of an intra-squad match to prepare. Earlier this month, the BCCI scrapped a 3-day intra-squad game at the WACA and instead opted for more net sessions center-wicket match simulation scenarios in Perth.

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“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 own 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. 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,” Vaughan added.

However, Vaughan added that cricketers these days have different mindsets as the Australian team also didn’t play any warm-up matches ahead of last year’s Test tours of India and England.

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

“The modern player maybe believes 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,” Vaughan added.