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Under-pressure India look to salvage series against England

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Cannot assure players of their berths, says Virat Kohli

NOTTINGHAM: Sunil Gavaskar had been quite vocal about India's lack of preparation going into the Test series in England. And former England star Allan Lamb , too, feels it's India's "poor preparation" for the series that has put them in a corner."It's just a case of poor preparation. England go to Australia and play two First-Class games and then get hammered in the first Test. So it's imperative that the preparation has to be spot on when you are going out of your comfort zone," Lamb told TOI during an exclusive chat.The Indian team arrived in England in late May and played the ODI and T20 series before the Tests. Then they had a four-day practice game scheduled against Essex, which was curtailed to a three-day game."I don't know why they curtailed the practice game. And make no mistake, ODIs and Test matches don't work together. The ball, the field setting - everything is different. When you play a Test, you need to spend time at the crease which is not the case in the shorter formats. These things happen with practice," Lamb, who played 79 Tests for England, said.The Indian team took three days off after the defeat in the second Test. When asked whether they could have utilized the time a little better, Lamb said: "There's no point having naughty boy nets. What was more important was to play more games against County sides. It's practice in the middle that makes the real difference."Lamb feels that the Indians are getting the "basics wrong" playing the swinging ball and that's hurting them. "It's important that you play under your nose and most of the Indian players are not doing that."