England v India: Ian Bell confident he will keep place despite poor form and paternity leave Thirty years ago nobody went home from tour unless there was a death in the family, but then Bell would probably also have been dropped for the poor run of form that has overcome him of late. He really has scratched around out here, unable to get a start until the second innings against Mumbai A and only then because he was dropped off the first ball he faced, as he turned an off break round the corner to backward short leg. "It was a bit of luck, which I needed," said Bell. There's no substitute for having time in the middle and I hope I can make the most of it in the next four-day game as well. Bell struggled badly against Pakistan's spinners in the United Arab Emirates eight months ago, when he made just 52 runs in six Test innings, so a pattern is forming. Slow pitches, cunning spinners - he appears to be allergic to both when they are combined. "Obviously, the conditions are completely different to what we see and grow up with in England," said Bell. The difficult thing in the middle order is starting, and trying to get through your first 20 or 30 deliveries. As soon as you can get in, it becomes a bit easier. That's the goal. After the hard series against Pakistan, I've worked as hard as I can on playing spin. You need a slightly different technique out here, maybe staying a little bit lower in your stance to get down on the ball. The importance of footwork here is also going to be massive. As Andy and Graham Gooch have stressed, if you're going to come forward, you go right forward, back, you go right back. In that Pakistan series, a lot of us got caught on the crease. One thing that may help England's batsmen cope better is the lack of the Decision Review System, which India's board seems to have a blind spot over, claiming it is too inaccurate to trust. With most umpires attuned to not being shown up by DRS, and trigger happy as a result, the effect might be entirely placebo. England's bowlers certainly will not be happy about its absence, though there were positive noises coming from the camp about the prospects of Stuart Broad and Steve Finn being available for selection. Broad is expected to be fit for the Test and Finn has an outside chance after making good progress with his thigh strain. Broad may even consider playing in the four-day match against Haryana that begins tomorrow, though bruised heels are often better left to lie for a few days.