Visakhapatnam: James Anderson will try to convince the England management he is ready to return to Test cricket after making a quicker than expected recovery from a shoulder injury.

Anderson began bowling at the nets when the team began two days of practice in the lead-up to Thursday’s second Test against India. Trevor Bayliss, the England coach, believes Anderson is in better shape than when he returned from the same injury during the summer after missing the Lord’s Test against Pakistan but has hinted at picking the same eleven that played in Rajkot, hailing the performance there as the best of his tenure.

With four Tests in five weeks in India, England will rotate their seam attack: it is just a question of when. The third Test will be played in Mohali, which has traditionally been the most seamer-friendly pitch in India, even though South Africa lost 20 wickets to spin there last year, and would be the obvious time to reunite Anderson and Stuart Broad.

Chris Woakes bowled 35 overs in the first Test but did not return for a late spell on the final day, perhaps to help his recovery for this Test. Woakes was the quickest of England’s bowlers in Rajkot and the one with the most dangerous short ball, which unsettled India’s batsmen, but it will be a question of how much the match took out of him.

Anderson could replace Woakes if it is felt he is ready for a break. But despite Anderson’s progress, England will also be wary of rushing him back. They will have seen how Dale Steyn broke down during a Test match in Perth last week after suffering a similar injury. It would be a huge blow for England to lose a seamer halfway through a match in India, so keeping Anderson back may be the final decision.

The authorities at the Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Stadium are under pressure to produce a pitch to the liking of the India captain this week. Virat Kohli was pointed when he said after the Rajkot Test that he felt the pitch had too much grass.

A spinning pitch, likely to break up quicker than the one in Rajkot, is expected, which will bring a tougher examination for Haseeb Hameed. Bayliss compared his love of batting with that of Kumar Sangakkara, which suggests he will relish the challenge of playing on a surface where three weeks ago New Zealand were dismissed for only 79 in 23.1 overs by India’s leg-spinner, Amit Mishra, who took five for 18.

“It’s early days for Hameed, but the signs are that he’s a very good player,” said Bayliss. “For one so young, 19, his composure is very good. He knows how his game works — something that players years in advance of him would like to have. Without wanting to put too much pressure on him, the signs are good. It was a very good start. “He’s been with the squad for about six weeks, but it feels like he’s been here for two or three years — he’s got that type of a personality.”

Bayliss convinced Alastair Cook to take a gamble on Hameed in the first Test, with the captain believed to have wanted to keep Ben Duckett as his opening partner. “I suppose we thought Duckett deserved to be picked [in Bangladesh] on the form he showed in the one-day series. He was looking good, so we’d go with him - no real reason other than that,” said Bayliss.

“It gave him [Hameed] an opportunity to spend two or three weeks in the squad getting to know everyone and see how things work. Whether it would have made any difference whether he’d played or not, who knows, but I don’t think we’ll be worrying about it in 10 or 15 years’ time.”