England head coach Brendon McCullum said he’s willing to be “really brave” with his selection on a pitch that is expected to offer plenty of turn, with England having brought an inexperienced spin unit featuring rookies Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir alongside the established Jack Leach.
“India is the land of opportunity and that’s what sits in front of us now,” McCullum said.
“We’ll take the positive option. Other teams might be better, but we want to be the bravest. We’ve got to do that and that’s got to be factored into selection, too.”
With Harry Brook absent for personal reasons, England seems set to restore Ben Foakes as wicketkeeper. Jonny Bairstow could also take the gloves but might be a specialist batter.
McCullum made no apologies for his decision to host a training camp in Abu Dhabi rather than play warmup games on Indian soil.
“The preparation was brilliant. The facilities out there are as good as anywhere in the world,” he said. “The guys walked away from Abu Dhabi with a huge amount of confidence that we’ve prepared as well as we possibly can. In the end all you’re trying to do is get guys in the frame of mind where they feel 10-foot tall and bulletproof when they walk out to play.”
India will be without star batter Virat Kohli for the first two tests for personal reasons.
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