India came into the World Test Championship final with no first-class game behind them, and are greeted with a similar proposition as they prepare to take on England in a five-match Test series in August.

Set to go for a three-week break before rejoining the bio-bubble for the England series, India’s Test side will only get to play intra-squad practice matches in preparation for the big series. In the press conference after the WTC final, Virat Kohli was asked about the lack of first-class matches in the build-up to the series, and the skipper clearly expressed his dissatisfaction with the same.

“Well, that doesn’t depend on us,” Kohli said. “We obviously wanted first-class games, which I believe have not been given to us. I don’t know what the reasons for that are.”

However, with intra-squad simulation games like the one before the WTC final, India hopes to hit the ground running when they take on England.

The initial planning around India’s tour to England had an unprecedented build-up — a four-day game against their own A team at the County Ground in Northamptonshire in July.

“Some of the world’s finest international cricketers will be on show at The County Ground this summer as we welcome India and India A,” Northamptonshire County Cricket Club’s statement read in January.

“Ahead of India’s five Test series against England in August, Virat Kohli’s Indian side take on India A in a four-day warmup fixture that promises to be a showcase of high-quality cricket.”

The two fixtures against India A were supposed to be first-class games.  But, the BCCI then requested the England Cricket Board to cancel the official, first-class warm-up fixtures planned before the series as they had gone with a large squad.

England’s county sides are involved in the T20 Blast with the County Championship also resuming shortly. There’s also the Hundred squeezed in between making any kind of warm-up fixture against one of the county sides difficult.