Though they were not the kind of warnings Australia fire when they set out on tour, England coach Duncan Fletcher sort of whispered that Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff will be looking to hustle out the Indians during their 62-day tour of the country.
England, who don't have an experienced spinner to exploit the spinner-friendly tracks in India, will rely on reverse swing, their lethal weapon, which gave them the edge in the Ashes series.
"Simon Jones got the ball to reverse swing quite well against Australia and we would like to believe that he will be effective in India also," said Fletcher, during his first press meet of the tour in Mumbai on Monday.
"The pitches in India tend to favour skiddy kind of bowlers and that's the reason we think Jones will do well," he added.
Fletcher also said Flintoff is a far-improved bowler than what he was during England's 2001 tour.
"He wasn't that much of a bowler the last time we toured India. He's gained a lot more confidence, and a lot more experience now."
The Englishmen, after a heady Ashes triumph over Australia, seemed to have lost the plot in Pakistan, where they were beaten 2-0 in the Test series, and Fletcher believes that his batsmen have to stick it up in the middle and make the first innings count.
"The Ashes have raised the profile of the game," said captain Michael Vaughan. "There will now be huge amount of support and interest in the series. That's what will make it more challenging.
"All of us know that India is a good tour, it's a hard tour. But it's just the way that the ICC schedule has unfolded that we are touring here after five years."
Vaughan added that though England will miss the experience of Ashley Giles, it would be a good opportunity to try out new spinners -- Monty Panessar, Shaun Udal and and Ian Blackwell, who have played three Tests between themselves.
Giles was the hot topic, especially because of the 'negative line' he used to frustrate the Indian batsmen, mainly Sachin Tendulkar, on the last tour.
"Well we got Sachin Tendulkar stump out for the first time in Tests, so it wouldn't have been that much of a negative line," defended Vaughan, who scored 106 runs in two Tests under the captaincy of Nasser Hussain on the last Indian tour.
