Vaughan baffled by Indian 'mindset' to skip warm-up and head straight into Perth Test
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India's decision to skip warm-up matches against local opposition ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has baffled former England captain Michael Vaughan.
The Indian management chose to deviate from the usual practice by opting to not play an Australian domestic side in the run-up to the five-match Test series starting in Perth on November 22. The Indian team has chosen instead to focus on centre-wicket training at the WACA 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 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.”
India's decision to let their top-order batters spend more time in the centre wicket was based on the understanding that the bounce of at WACA mirrored that of the Perth Stadium pitch. “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 said.
In one sense, India is only replicating what Australia did before last year's Test tours of India and England when they skipped warm-up matches citing issues with scheduling and a lack of trust in local curators.
Vaughan understands that players these days have a different mindset to theirs, but even then warm-up matches would have been better he felt. “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 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 said.