So it seems something will have to give when the teams meet in a three-match NatWest Challenge limited-overs contest, a warm-up for next month's ICC Champions Trophy tournament in England, later this week.

Wednesday sees the start of the mini-series, here at Trent Bridge, with India already minus Sachin Tendulkar.

The master batsman has been suffering with tennis elbow and after a practice session on Monday was ruled out of the series.

Tendulkar missed the triangular series in Holland because of the problem with his left elbow but has not been ruled out of the Champions Trophy, which starts on September 10.

Team manager Goutam Dasgupta said no replacement had been sought for Tendulkar at Trent Bridge, or at The Oval on Friday and Lord's on Sunday.

And in the likes of Virender Sehwag, Venkatsai Laxman and Rahul Dravid, not to mention captain Sourav Ganguly and hard-hitting youngsters Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif, India have plenty of batsmen who can turn a match on its head.

"Injuries are a part of our life .. we've won big cricket matches without Sachin before," said Wright after seeing his side go down to a 66-run defeat against arch-rivals Pakistan in Amstelveen earlier this month.

The former New Zealand batsman added he was more concerned about the way his team paced their chase. "We really haven't hit out straps at all this summer since we came back and particularly we've been exposed chasing totals. We haven't set a platform."

But he insisted his side, so impressive in 2003 when they reached the World Cup final before losing heavily by 125 runs against Australia, could turn things around in England.

"A lot of our players are quality and class doesn't disappear overnight. It's just an innings away."

India's problems batting second pale beside England's batting first. Michael Vaughan's men haven't won a one-day match setting a target since the World Cup.

Their predicament was summed up by their last one-day international, a seven-wicket defeat against the West Indies at Lord's in July which saw England exit their own triangular series before the final.

What makes England's one-day form all the more exasperating is that their Test form has been superb this year, with the team reeling off seven straight wins -- their best run in 75 years.

But a defiant Vaughan insisted after the West Indies defeat: "A few months ago we didn't have Andrew Strauss, we didn't have Stephen Harmison, with the white ball, and we didn't have a world-class all-rounder in Andrew Flintoff.

"If we can sort out the batting at the top we'll have a real good team."

That last problem should benefit from the return to international one-day cricket of in-form batsman Vikram Solanki.

The Worcestershire batsman made a dynamic 106 off 108 balls in a one-day international against South Africa at The Oval last year.

But he was left out of the England one-day squad after making just 11 runs in three games during the tour of Bangladesh.

However he now appears in prime form after scoring 115 for Worcestershire against Gloucesters-hire in Saturday's C and G Trophy one-day final at Lord's.

Solanki, whose presence should also lift England's fielding -- a weak point of their one-day game -- told reporters afterwards: "I think I have learnt from my mistakes, both technically and in terms of one-day batting."

SQUADS
ENGLAND (from): Michael Vaughan (captain), Kabir Ali, James Anderson, Gareth Batty, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Ashley Giles, Darren Gough, Stephen Harmison, Geraint Jones, Anthony McGrath, Vikram Solanki, Andrew Strauss, Marcus Trescothick, Alex Wharf.

INDIA (from): Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly (captain), Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Ajit Agarkar, Dinesh Karthik, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Ashish Nehra, Irfan Pathan, Rohan Gavaskar.