India were originally scheduled to take on Essex at Chelmsford from July 25 to 28 (BCCI Photo)

India's only practice match scheduled ahead of the five-Test series against England has been reduced from a four-day to a three-day affair. India were scheduled to take on Essex at Chelmsford from July 25 to 28 but the match will instead conclude on June 27.

The first Test against England gets underway on August 1 in Birmingham and it is understood the Indian team wanted to spend an extra day at the venue for preparations.

On their tour of South Africa earlier in the year, India scrapped their warm up match because the team management thought it would be a better idea to spend more time preparing at the nets. However, India lost the first two Tests in Cape Town and Centurion before winning the third Test on a dodgy pitch in Johannesburg.

India in England: Wriddhiman Saha's absence a big blow for visitors

India's performances in overseas Test series have been far from impressive. Over the last seven years, India have toured and lost Test series in England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. Their only success away from home has come against Sri Lanka and West Indies.

Also read - Can India repeat history in England after 47 years with new-age spin trio?

For the tour of England, BCCI decided the team would play the shorter formats before the Test matches so players could get used to conditions.

India played three T20Is and three ODIs against England in July while a few of the Test specialists played an unofficial Test for India A against England A at Worcester.

Also read - India in England: Brief history of 6 Test wins in 43 years

It remains to be seen whether six limited-overs matches and one unofficial Test is enough practice for a five-Test series in a country where India have won only six Test matches.

In 2011, India were hammered 0-4 before going down 1-3 in a five-match series three years later. The upcoming five-Test series from August is expected to be skipper Virat Kohli's biggest test yet.

Besides, news agency PTI reported that the Indian team management took this decision after the a nets session on Tuesday afternoon. According to the report, "Indian coach Ravi Shastri was seen having an animated discussion with the local officials after getting a glimpse of the grassy pitch and a barren outfield that can cause injury while fielding."

Assistant coach Sanjay Bangar and bowling coach Bharat Arun also took stock of the conditions and were seen having discussions with the ground staff.

The Indian camp was worried after taking a look at the grassy pitch and barren outfield and feared they might cause injury to players while fielding.

But Essex ground officials said they had done everything they could do to accommodate the Indian team's requests.

"We have bent over backwards to accommodate the Indian team management's demands. It is disappointing though because we had sold a lot of tickets for the fourth day (Saturday)," PTI quoted a 'senior member of the ground staff.'

The Indian team trained for four hours on Tuesday. There were rigorous workouts scheduled for the batsmen and bowlers. Cheteshwar Pujara, Murali Vijay and Virat Kohli also concentrated on slip catching, an area which has been a cause for concern for India on recent tours.

LATEST UPDATE:

The most recent update that's coming from England is that the India team have cited prevalent "heatwave" in the country for shortening the practice match.

The Indian team have said that they reduced the warm-up match to a three-day affair to give themselves an extra day to rest and recover.

An Essex county representative maintained that the Indian team "was happy with practice facilities".

When asked about the rugged outfield, and whether that could have been a reason to reduce the game, the representative declined to comment any further.

"Essex Cricket and the England & Wales Cricket Board have today agreed, at the request of the BCCI Management Team, that the scheduled Tourist match between Essex and India will now be played over three days," the county said in a statement.

Given that it is not a classified first-class match, it is confirmed that the Indian team will be using all 18 members of their Test squad.

Essex made it clear that spectators who had purchased tickets for the final day's play on Saturday will be refunded in full.

(With inputs from Rahul Rawat and PTI)