England batsman Ian Bell is ready to reclaim his place in the line-up ahead of the third Test against India in Kolkata, having rejoined the squad following the birth of his son.

Bell missed the second Test in Mumbai, which England won, to attend the arrival of his lad, but returned ahead of the Eden Gardens encounter looking to make amends for his dire shot selection in the first Test.

The Warwickshire man was out playing a terrible shot first ball, holing out to long on when he was required to get stuck in. He admitted that playing in India has not yet proved fruitful for him, and that the next game would be crucial for his records.

Bell said: "India is the one place left around the world for me. My first tour to Pakistan went really well, I played nice cricket in Sri Lanka. But here I've not gone so well and it's the same in one-day cricket, too. Maybe sometimes I've tried a bit too hard."

The new father is in contention to play on Wednesday, replacing Jonny Bairstow, who played while Bell was back in England with his family. Bell isn't assuming he'll play though, saying he'll try to repay the selectors' faith if they pick him.

He continued: "[Selection] is out of my control. I'll work as hard as I possibly can to be ready to play. If I get the nod, that's great. If they want to stay with a winning team, I'll have to take that and keep working as hard as I can to fight my way back.

"Maybe I've built a bit too much on myself in the past and now I just want to go out and trust my ability and spend time in the middle and score runs."

Bairstow, on the other hand, can feel slightly aggrieved at being dropped yet again, having lost his place three times despite only playing five Tests. His form hasn't been bad at all, but he accepts that he is still low on the pecking order.

Bairstow said of being dropped: "That's the situation in professional sport, people coming in and out all the time. You've got to be adaptable to each one that's put in front of you. It's obviously desperately disappointing.

"But for the sake of the team, what's best for the balance of the side, then it was going to happen. It's something that's been dealt with before, and I'm sure it will be in the future. If that's the case, then so be it."