Former England captain Michael Vaughan has expressed his bewilderment at India’s preparation for the five-Test series against Australia, questioning why Virat Kohli and his teammates have not played a genuine warm-up match since arriving in the country.

An India A side played two games against an Australia A team, but those matches only featured five players from India’s 18-man Test squad: batters Abhimanyu Easwaran and KL Rahul, all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel, and fast bowler Prasidh Krishna.

The bulk of India’s Test squad has only readied itself with a three-day intra-squad match simulation at the WACA and a series of long sessions in the WACA nets.

READ MORE: In-demand Roosters star lands three-year contract

READ MORE: The six likely moves for boxing’s most polarising figure

READ MORE: Pakistan officials ‘strongly refute’ Gillespie report

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) opted against pitting its Test side against an Australian XI of some kind, which it had done on its two most recent tours Down Under, despite its unprecedented 3-0 Test series defeat to New Zealand on Indian soil.

“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.”

The first Test of the series, set to be played at Perth’s Optus Stadium, will get under way on Friday.

Rohit Sharma is not available for the series-opener because he’s remained in India for the birth of his second child, meaning the 37-year-old will likely be replaced by Easwaran or Rahul at the top of the order.

Highly touted 22-year-old Yashasvi Jaiswal, who’s made 1407 runs at 56.28 from 14 Tests, is certain to open in Perth.

Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah will step in as captain in Sharma’s absence.

“These players have a different kind of mindset to what we had, whereas we probably needed more games,” Vaughan added, reflecting on England’s Ashes tours of Australia during his career.

“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.”