It is rare indeed that an England one-day side arrive in India with the home country fixated by Test cricket. That was the expectation this morning, with Kevin Pietersen and his squad preparing to disembark in Bombay after a gruelling journey from Antigua within an hour or so of India beginning the fourth and final match of their series against Australia in Nagpur.

After the scrutiny in the Caribbean, the same 15 will be happy to spend as long as they can away from the limelight before the first of seven one-day internationals begins tomorrow week. Two Test matches follow next month, the imbalance between 50-overs and five-day cricket resulting from India's commitment to the shorter form and the desire of England to be home for Christmas.

This may, indeed, be the last schedule of its kind because it is hard to imagine any significant tour in the future without a Twenty20 fixture. The home crowds will have to wait until next April to see Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff in that form of the game. Both appear certain to return for the second season of the Indian Premier League, although for how long remains a matter of conjecture.

More should become clearer next week, when, as England seek to reverse a 5-1 setback in their most recent one-day series here in 2006, David Collier, the ECB chief executive, meets Lalit Modi, the vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, to consider a reciprocal arrangement giving the English Premier League the credibility of an Indian presence from 2010.

If Modi holds most of the cards in that meeting, the same is not so clear-cut on the field after the way that Pietersen, in his first series as captain, helped to rejuvenate England in beating South Africa 4-0 at the end of last season. With Flintoff - both the leading run-scorer and wicket-taker in the series - fit and motivated, and a wicketkeeper in Matt Prior to open the batting, balance, at least, is perfect.

Furthermore, England have recent experience of victory in Asia. They recovered from a heavy defeat in Dambulla to beat Sri Lanka 3-2 a year ago, when the pace attack of Ryan Sidebottom, James Anderson and Stuart Broad demonstrated a command of slower balls and cutters that will be crucial again over the coming month. The choice of Stephen Harmison ought not to be clear-cut.

The trip from Antigua included eight hours in London, involving a switch between airports, and the first task for Pietersen and Peter Moores, the head coach, is to start afresh.

They are fortunate in that India tends to concentrate minds, especially of the open variety, and nowhere else is the biggest lesson from the Stanford Super Series - to retain a positive outlook - more importantly heeded.

Even with a switch of the fourth game from Jamshedpur to the Silicon Valley city of Bangalore, the schedule misses many of the more established centres. Recent violence in Guwahati, in the northeast, may result in the penultimate match being shifted to the inspiring Eden Gardens stadium in Calcutta, but the less salubrious areas of Rajkot and Cuttack will be where squad-bonding can really take hold.

Experience will be invaluable before the 2011 World Cup in the subcontinent and India are in a state of transition, with Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman and Anil Kumble not among the one-day squad. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain, heads a new guard, having proved as inspirational as Pietersen. The last tour of its type, perhaps, but still with a big nod to the future.

Tour itinerary

Sunday: Mumbai (Brabourne Stadium, Bombay)
Tuesday: Mumbai (Brabourne Stadium, Bombay)
Nov 14: First one-day international (Rajkot)
Nov 17: Second ODI (Indore)
Nov 20: Third ODI (Kanpur)
Nov 23: Fourth ODI (Bangalore)
Nov 26: Fifth ODI (Cuttack).
Nov 29: Sixth ODI (Guwahati)
Dec 2: Seventh ODI (Delhi)
Dec 5-Dec 7: TBC (Baroda)
Dec 11-Dec 15: First Test (Ahmedabad)
Dec 19-Dec 23: Second Test (Brabourne Stadium, Bombay)

One-day squad: K P Pietersen (captain), J M Anderson, I R Bell, R S Bopara, S C J Broad, P D Collingwood, A N Cook, A Flintoff, S J Harmison, S R Patel, M J Prior, O A Shah, R J Sidebottom, G P Swann, L J Wright.

T R Ambrose, M S Panesar and A J Strauss to replace Bopara, Patel and Wright for Test series.