NEWS
Follow UsIndia decided to ditch the warm-up game for an intra-squad contest at the Western Australia Cricket Association Stadium in Perth as the preparation for the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy. With the result not going their way in the three-match series against New Zealand at home, they would have needed some more batting days against a competitive outfit, but the management decided otherwise.
That surprised former England skipper Michael Vaughan, who questioned the logic behind such a move. “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.”
More and more teams have been in favour of ditching warm-up games lately, as evidenced by the fact that England and Australia also decided not to play any warm-up games in their respective last tours of India. Vaughan added that modern players have a very different mindset than their predecessors.
“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.
“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.”
The five-match Test series will kick start on November 22 in Perth and conclude with the New Year's Test in Sydney.
If you’ve not downloaded the Cricket.com app yet, you’re missing out on our content — big time. Download the App here.
