Special invitees Cheteshwar Pujara and ShikharDhawan would be the closely watched by the national selectors when Mumbai Atake on the visiting England team in the tourists' second three-day warm-upgame here from tomorrow.
Pujara, a prolific run-getter in domestic cricket and scorerof a ton in the opening Test against New Zealand in August, looks a certaintyfor India's first Test squad to be announced on the last day of this game.
Dhawan is a strong contender to be the reserve opener atAhmedabad following his big scores in the earlier part of the 2012-13 domesticseason.
The Delhi batsman would have played in place of AbhinavMukund for India A in the opening warm-up game but opted out of the originallyannounced squad as his wedding date clashed with the match.
Apart from this duo, there are players like captainSuryakumar Yadav, Kshemal Waingankar and Balwinder Singh Sandhu Jr., who willbe watched with interest by the selectors.
Medium pacer Waingankar, in fact, had taken a six-wickethaul when England last visited the country and played a warm-up game atBrabourne while Sandhu made an impressive Ranji Trophy debut as a new ballbowler last season.
There are others like batsmen Hiken Shah and Bhavin Thakkar,apart from leg spinner Sagar Gorivale and medium pacer Javed Khan who would beeager to impress against a top visiting side.
The visitors, on the other hand, had a satisfactory outingin their opening drawn game against India A that ended yesterday.
Most pleasing from their point of view was the long stays atthe crease of captain and opener Alastair Cook and middle order batsman SamitPatel, both of who scored centuries.
There were attractive half centuries from Jonathan Trott andMatt Prior, the first choice stumper, to further give a boost to theirconfidence ahead of the tough battles in the four-Test rubber starting onNovember 15.
Speedsters James Anderson and Tim Bresnan, expected to make the eleven atAhmedabad, had long spells under the sun and on a wicket that was good forbatting.
Anderson claimed four wickets by concentrating on moving the ball and Bresnanused his aggression, pace and the short ball to snap up 4 wickets par for thecourse.
The third fast bowler who played in the game, Steven Finn, limped off afterbowling only four overs due to a right thigh strain and is not likely to takethe field in the second game.
Vice-captain Stuart Broad is certain to play along with the fifth pace bowlerGraham Onions. The third and final warm-up game against Haryana is scheduledbetween November 8 and 11 at Ahmedabad.
A small concern for the visitors was that part-time left arm spinner YuvrajSingh grabbed a career first-class best of 5 for 94, and his victims includedKevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Patel and Prior.
However, pace spearhead Anderson said after the match that the visitors werenot too concerned about Yuvraj getting a fifer.
Lack of match practice against spin could be the undermining factor for thetourists who will be up against off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and left armPragyan Ojha in the Test series.
The Indian spin duo has scalped wickets in a heap by bowling together in thelast two Test rubbers at home against the West Indies and New Zealand.
But for Sagar Gorivale, a leg break bowler, the Mumbai A squad also lacks afrontline slow bowler, which is seen as a ploy by the Indian selectioncommittee to deny the visiting team good practice against slow bowlers ahead ofTests.
From the visitors' point of view, they may opt to give achance to left arm spinner Monty Panesar to get into the groove.
Panesar is fighting for a place in the eleven with Patel who has stolen thefirst march with a ton and a two-wicket haul in the visitors' tour-opener.
The rival teams (from):
Mumbai A: Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Cheteshwar Pujara, Shikhar Dhawan, HikenShah, Bhavin Thakkar, Sufiyan Shaikh, Nikhil Patil (Jr.), Shoaib Sheikh,Neelkanth Parab, Bravish Shetty, Kshemal Waingankar, Balwinder Singh Sandhu(Jr.) , Sagar Gorivale, Javed Khan, Shardul Thakur.
England: Alastair Cook, James Anderson, Ian Bell, Tim Bresnan, Nick Compton,Steven Finn, Samit Patel, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Graeme Swann, JonathanTrott, Sturt Broad, Joe Root, Jimmy Bairstow, Graham Onions, Eoin Morgan, MontyPanesar.
Hours of Play: 09:30 am to 11:30 am; 12:10 pm to 02:10 pm; 02:30 pm to 04:30 pm(Minimum 90 overs).