MUMBAI: The England team led by Alastair Cook, along with the support staff, arrived here early Monday morning from Dubai for a series of four Test matches and two T20 Internationals against hosts India.
Key middle order batsman Kevin Pietersen, added to the team as the 17th member following a patch-up with his teammates after being dropped midway through the home Test rubber against South Africa, had arrived a few hours earlier.
Pietersen, who played for Delhi Daredevils in the Champions T20 League before the team got knocked out in the semi-final, arrived late Sunday night from South Africa while the other team members came from the UAE where they had practiced for a few days at the ICC’s Global Cricket Academy.
Pietersen was readmitted into the team on October 18. He was ousted from the team in August after sending mobile text messages with unflattering comments about the then captain Andrew Strauss and teammates to two rival players Dale Steyn and AB de Villiers during the second Test of the last home series against South Africa at Headingley, Leeds.
England are to play three warm-up games, prior to the opening Test of the series starting at Ahmedabad on November 15.
They are to open the tour with a three-day warm-up game against India ‘A’ side, led by Suresh Raina, at the Cricket Club of India here on October 30.
The second warm-up game for the tourists, against Mumbai ‘A’, is scheduled at the D Y Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai from November 3-5.
The third and last practice game, to be played over four days, is to be held at Ahmedabad from November 8-11 prior to the start of the Test series in that city.
The remaining Tests are to be played at Mumbai (November 23-27), Kolkata (December 5-9) and Nagpur (December 13-17) followed by the two T20 Internationals at Pune (December 20) and Mumbai (December 22).
England squad: Alastair Cook (Captain), James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Ian Bell, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Nick Compton, Steven Finn, Graham Onions, Eoin Morgan, Monty Panesar, Samit Patel, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Joe Root, Graeme Swann and Jonathan Trott.
England would return home after the conclusion of the T20 series for the Christmas and New Year break before returning to India on January 3 for a five-match ODI series to be held from January 11 to 27 at Rajkot, Kochi, Ranchi, Mohali and Dharamsala.
–PTI
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