Finn, Sharma out of first India-England Test

India and England will be without the services of fast bowlers Ishant Sharma and Steven Finn when they open a four-Test series in Ahmedabad on Thursday.

Finn has not recovered from a thigh strain suffered in England s three-day tour opener in Mumbai last month, while Sharma was ruled out of the first Test due to viral fever he picked up on Tuesday.

The duo s absence was confirmed by rival captains Alastair Cook and Mahendra Singh Dhoni at a pre-match press conference on Wednesday, even as speculation mounted over the likely nature of the newly-laid pitch.

Both Dhoni and Cook expected the dry surface at the Motera stadium to assist spin, but added its unknown quality would generate considerable interest for the two teams.

"Wickets could change a lot in 24 hours, but it looks quite dry," said Cook. "The pitch has been re-laid and so there are not many statistics available that are relevant to the wicket."

Dhoni, who had openly called on groundsmen across India to prepare turning pitches against spin-wary tourists, termed it a "good wicket".

"It definitely looks dry and I feel it will turn," he said, but indicated India were unlikely to field a third specialist spinner in Harbhajan Singh to bowl alongside Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha.

"The fast bowlers could also get a bit of reverse swing. It s always advisable to have a bowling attack that has people available for different scenarios."

England have proved vulnerable against the turning ball this year, losing 3-0 to Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates in January-February before forcing a 1-1 draw in Sri Lanka in March.

The tourists now confront an Indian side that usually makes up for its poor record abroad by dominating all comers on home soil, where it has lost just one series out of 16 in the past 10 years.

India are desperate to make amends for two successive 4-0 routs in England and Australia over the past year, but Dhoni refused to term the upcoming matches as a grudge series.