ENGLAND have dismissed a disagreement between themselves and India which saw Andrew Flintoff remonstrating with the hosts' bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad.

The two sides were practising in the build-up to tomorrow's opening match of the one-day series when the tourists were annoyed when a ball was hit from the Indian nets into their net area, narrowly missing batting coach Andy Flower as he supervised the session at the Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground.

All-rounder Flintoff walked over to the Indian squad and argued with Prasad before England coach Peter Moores walked over, shook counterpart Gary Kirsten by the hand and discussed the issue further.

But captain Kevin Pietersen, who was batting in the nets at the time of the incident and also clipped a switch-hit shot into the India nets, played down the incident.

"I haven't got a clue what happened because I was batting at the time," he explained. "I heard something was going on but I was concentrating on my batting.

"I don't think too much needs to be read into it - if a guy is practising his shots, he's practising his shots, so there's nothing to read into it."

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni also shrugged off the disagreement, claiming: "There are big hitters on both the sides and I believe that was the reason why the ball kept flying around - there is no problem."

Today's incident followed a bad-tempered Test series between the two countries in England in 2007, but Pietersen insists there is no animosity between the sides as they prepare for the start of the seven-match series.

Tough

"I think India plays its cricket tough, we play our cricket tough as do Australia and South Africa - nations play with pride and passion, which is fantastic," he said.

"It's lovely to come to India. We had a remarkable crowd outside our hotel when we arrived last night and they'd been there since 10.00 in the morning - it gives the guys a buzz and they love India.

"Cricket is a religion out here and they play passionate cricket and that's why we're here - to test ourselves in difficult conditions."

England have made two changes to their line-up from their last major outing in the Stanford showdown in Antigua and decided against fielding both spinners, despite following that model in both practice matches.

Instead, they have reverted to the attack that helped them hammer South Africa 4-0 towards the end of the English summer with Graeme Swann missing out to allow the recall of Jimmy Anderson, who was overlooked for the Stanford match.

The big surprise, though, was the recall of Essex's Ravi Bopara to replace Sussex all-rounder Luke Wright, who has featured in England's last 14 successive one-day internationals.

"Ravi has earned his recall," explained Pietersen. "He's been on the sidelines for a lot of the cricket we've played for the last however long.

"I'm a big Ravi Bopara fan on these wickets and we wanted to give him a go - I think he's so exciting."

Nottinghamshire seamer Stuart Broad secured his place in the line-up by coming through a fitness test during the practice session today after missing Tuesday's humiliating warm-up defeat by a Mumbai XI with a sore knee.
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