Batsman Vikram Solanki will lead England [ Images ] in a warm-up game on Saturday ahead of the seven-match one-day series against India [ Images ] starting next week.

He will deputise for captain Andrew Flintoff [ Images ], who went home after the Test series to see his newborn son. Flintoff will return before the first one-dayer in New Delhi [ Images ] on Tuesday.

England have rested four players from the Test side, opener Andrew Strauss [ Images ], all rounder Paul Collingwood [ Images ], batsman Geraint Jones and seamer Matthew Hoggard [ Images ], for the match against a Rajasthan [ Images ] Cricket Board President's XI.

It will provide an opportunity for Solanki, seamers Kabir Ali and Sajid Mahmood, and off-spinner Gareth Batty who joined the squad for the one-dayers.

Mahmood, who toured India with the A side in 2003-4, expected the heat to pose a challenge for the new players.

"When I was here last time the series was tough and difficult," he said on Friday. "The heat and humidity made things tough."

Injury-depleted England crushed India by 212 runs in the third and final Test in Mumbai [ Images ] on Wednesday to square the three-match series.