As England depart for Abu Dhabi for short retreat, England head coach Brendon McCullum has uttered to go hard against India upon their return from six-day break in Abu Dhabi. England have opted to take a mid-tour break in Abu Dhabi where players will be reuniting with their families.

England having copped their 106-run defeat against India in the second Test will be relishing some free time in Abu Dhabi as none of their players are carrying their kits, except Dan Lawrence, who is likely to feature for Desert Vipers in ILT20 as he was already with the franchise before he was called to replace Harry Brook, who had opted out of the series due to personal reasons. 

A little time off will surely help England recharge themselves after having suffered a big setback in the second Test. In the second Test, England's batting order suffered harrowing times with Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah coming out with his classy spell, claiming nine wickets across both innings. 

"I was speaking to Rahul Dravid [the Indian coach] this morning. I sorted of asked him what he was up to after this Test match. He said they were all going to head home and have a bit of a break. For us home is a long way away. So we are going to head to Abu Dhabi. all the families coming out there as well. And we look forward to spending some time with family," Brendon McCullum told TalkSPORT on Tuesday.

“And I guess, digesting the last couple of weeks has been quite intense and also quite consuming. so, It’s an opportunity for us all to take a little bit of stock on both sides and then we’ll come back and put the graft in when we get to Rajkot,” he said.

"There won't be a lot of cricket stuff, probably won't be any cricket stuff in Abu Dhabi, just as there won't be much for the Indian boys as well. W’ve got a lot of preparation under our belt. It’s been long time in Abu Dhabi leading up to this series. We have trained a lot, and we’ve had two intense Test matches. So, for us it's about refreshing the mental side of things and making sure we come back and put our best foot forward in the next Test match," McCullum added.