Ollie Pope appears on track to enter England’s thoughts for Friday’s much-anticipated Test series opener against India after taking a full part in the squad’s first training session since their quarantine period ended. The 23-year-old Surrey right-hander has been out of action since a tumble in the outfield during the final Test of last summer against Pakistan resulted in the second shoulder dislocation of his short career and necessitated surgery. But while the repeat nature of the injury has seen England take a cautious approach, with Pope having continued his rehabilitation on the sidelines in Sri Lanka while the newcomer Dan Lawrence was blooded, there is growing expectation he could be ready to resume his role at No 6 as early as this week in Chennai. This could yet hinge on whether Ben Stokes is able to play as an all-rounder following a two-month break from cricket; if not, then England may find they need to bat wicketkeeper Jos Buttler at No 6 and bring in Chris Woakes as a third seam option alongside Jofra Archer and one of either Stuart Broad or Jimmy Anderson. Stokes, who landed in India early along with Archer and Rory Burns, has already been bowling in the nets and was joined by the remainder of the squad on Tuesday after they completed six days of isolation in their hotel rooms. Pope batted and played a full part in fielding drills, meaning he could be added to the main squad this week. Both Stokes and Archer have not played for England since the Twenty20 series in South Africa before Christmas, a tour which ended when the one-day series was aborted due to an outbreak of Covid-19 in the team hotel. Archer spent 87 days in the bubble during the last home summer and though refreshed from the break, part of which was spent in Barbados, the 25-year-old feels confident to approach the head coach, Chris Silverwood, should problems arise. Speaking after training, Archer said: “Funnily enough, I have looked at the schedule today and all I can say is it is going to be a very long year. Managing your body is going to be really important. Anyone criticising us has never been in the bubble. We have been in a bubble for months, we have been in here for almost a year now. I think we have to go in and out because humans are social people. It starts to get hard if you are not having a great game or not feeling good with your cricket because there is nowhere to go. “If it does get too overbearing it is okay to say that. I think Spoons [Silverwood] has said already that if you have a problem come and tell him but at the moment I am good to go until at least July.” The pandemic put paid to another series on Tuesday with Australia pulling out of a proposed three-Test visit to South Africa in March due to what Cricket Australia’s interim chief executive, Nick Hockley, called “an unacceptable level of health and safety risk to our players, support staff and the community”. As well as angering Cricket South Africa – the director of cricket, Graeme Smith, said he was “extremely disappointed by the decision” – it has meant New Zealand qualify for June’s inaugural ICC World Test Championship final in England in June. India are clear favourites to join them, with England needing to win three of the four Tests to take their place and Australia still not entirely out of contention.