• Up to 10,000 tickets unsold for days one and two • Wednesday start a factor in poor sales at Edgbaston

Swaths of empty seats could prove a troubling backdrop during the opening exchanges of England’s first Test against India, with Edgbaston reporting low ticket sales for what is meant to be the highlight of the cricketing summer.

Warwickshire fear there could be up to 10,000 tickets unsold on both days one and two of England’s 1,000th men’s Test. Officials at the club have put what could be a disappointing turnout down to a Wednesday start that means the ground will not likely be filled up until Friday and Saturday.

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While ticket sales for the Ashes series next summer will doubtless be strong, figures for this week at the 25,000-capacity Edgbaston demonstrate the challenge of marketing midweek Test cricket outside London; a Saturday start for the third Test in Nottingham could also throw up a similar concern later in that match.

India, meanwhile, have shrugged off suggestions that they are going into the series undercooked. Ajinkya Rahane, their vice-captain, claims the true challenge over five Tests will be their mindset given the two sides should be evenly matched.

The tourists cut short their one-off warm-up in Chelmsford by one day – much to the chagrin of Essex, who had to refund 2,000 tickets – in order to travel to Birmingham and begin preparations, only for rain on Sunday to delay their practice by 24 hours.

Despite the opener Shikhar Dhawan registering a pair in that tour match, and the No 3 Cheteshwar Pujara averaging a meagre 14 across 12 innings in the County Championship during a spell with Yorkshire this summer, Rahane was bullish about their build-up.

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“We are not worried at all as both are quality batsmen,” he said. “It just takes one good innings to get into your rhythm. We’ve had decent practice and during the [Chelmsford] match we netted morning and afternoon, too. More than skills, it’s about our mindset; it’s how quickly you adjust and handle the situation. In terms of skill the teams are on par.”

India are also without the injured Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah for the start of the series – two of the seamers behind Virat Kolhi’s side claiming 60 wickets across three Tests in South Africa this year – but Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma are expected to demonstrate the depth of Kohli’s pace attack.

Rahane said: “We have an attack that can disrupt opponents. They need to back themselves and believe that our bowling unit is the best in the world.”