England face tricky decision over resting Woakes

England face a late selection quandary over the inclusion of Chris Woakes in the team for the second Test.

Woakes, who bowled immaculately in the first Test, was described as "fine to play" by England captain Alastair Cook. But the England captain also admitted Woakes was suffering from a "bowling niggle" and from the "wear and tear of bowling".

As a result, England are considering rotating him with a view to injury prevention and to ensure he is fit for the final three Tests of the series.

If Woakes is rested, England have to decide whether to pick James Anderson, who has not played a game since August, or recall Steven Finn or Jake Ball.

"It's a real tough one," Cook admitted. "We know what we've got coming up but the way the 11 guys played in the last game was outstanding. So it's either the rotation policy or do you stick with what we've got. That's the decision we've got to make.

"Woakes is the one we're looking at because of the amount of overs he has bowled over the last six or seven weeks. He was outstanding in Rajkot, so we will have to make a decision. He has just got a bowling niggle really. Just the normal wear and tear of bowling, so he's fine to play."

Under normal circumstance, England would have no hesitation in drafting Anderson back into the side. But Cook is clearly nervous about risking him as part of a three-man seam attack after such a long period out of the game.

"Jimmy has come over and done really well in the nets," Cook said. "He's confident as he can be in terms of his skills and where he's at but he hasn't got miles in his legs.

"The last time he played in a game was in August. So you're weighing up that against guys who have been out here for seven weeks and also against Chris Woakes. It's going through our heads what we are going to do."

While Woakes is keen to play and had a brief bowl in training, it could be that Finn is the beneficiary of a decision to rest him. Finn has continued to bowl well in the nets - not always a precursor to bowling well in a match - and troubled most of England's batsmen.

Whatever England conclude, they go into the second Test in greater confidence than they went into the first. Their ability to post a score of over 500 in Rajkot - whatever the state of the pitch and the state of India's fielding - has infused the batting line-up with confidence, while the success the bowlers had in slowing India's rate of scoring in the first innings and putting them under pressure in the second has provided a similar boost. Crucially, England's spinners lost little in comparison to their Indian counterparts.

"The way we played was particularly pleasing over the five days," Cook said. "We were relentless in all aspects of the game. There were a couple of dropped catches here and there, that does happen in the game, but apart from that we were excellent with the ball and in the field.

"There were three first-innings hundreds to get more than 500 and, when the pressure was on in the second innings and it looked like we were the only side who could lose the game, Haseeb Hameed played really well. A lot of things went well for us and that can only give us confidence that we can compete with India and put them under pressure."

If England do go on to win the series, it may be that we look back and reflect on the defeat in Dhaka as a key moment. That loss - and the manner of it, with England losing 10 wickets in a session - was such a shock that Cook believes it acted as a catalyst to their improvement.

"They were incredibly tough wickets to bat on," Cook said. "It doesn't matter whether you'd played 130 Tests in Asia with a good record or your first game. It was incredibly tough for the top order with the same balls skidding and spinning. If you look at mine and Gary Ballance's [first-innings] dismissals we both received exactly the same deliveries with exactly the seam release out of the hand. One hit leg stump and the other got caught [by the keeper]. That was the challenge facing us.

"It didn't make us bad players of spin. But what it did do was focus a real intensity in our training after those 10 wickets fell in a session. It makes people not re-evaluate their game but really concentrate, particularly in those first 30 balls of your innings.

"We had a really good couple of days in Mumbai and when conditions were slightly more favourable for batting and the hard work we'd put in paid off. Now we have to do it again. Everyone starts on nought now."

It appears the toss will once again be vital. While the pitch looked oddly damp on Wednesday and was given a further sprinkling of water, the groundsman has stated he expects it to start turning on the second day. The relatively lush outfield and fresh-looking square will again do little to generate reverse-swing. While there may be a little in the surface in the first session, batting fourth is likely to prove especially demanding.

'The toss is important," Cook said, "but in Mumbai the last time we played here we lost the toss on a turning wicket and we outplayed India. So it is important but it doesn't mean you can't win the game if you lose it. If you go back to our last game in Rajkot, our worst bit of the game was that first 25 minutes when we showed a bit of nerves. Everyone here says the toss is important but if we lose it, it will just be another challenge we will have to overcome."