Riverside (Chester-Le-Street), Sep 2: They have put up some very dominant performance so far against India but England skipper Alastair Cook has refused to label his team as “favourite” in the One-day series, starting here tomorrow.
Cook is cautious not to beat the drum of their apparent superiority against a weakened Indian side, which they trounced 4-0 in Tests before winning the one-off Twenty20.
“Whether we are favourites or not is irrelevant. It's what happens on the pitch tomorrow that's what matters. If we can play well, we can put them under pressure,” Cook said ahead of the series-opener.
“We are here to win the series. India are world champions and a very good side. If we win the series, I will be very happy,” said Cook who is now in his second series as England's one-day captain.
Cook, a left-handed batsman, said their main contention is to do well consistently in One-day format.
“The most glaring need is to be consistent. We want to beat the best sides day in and day out. That's what we have been doing in Test cricket, not in ODIs and that's area we want to improve,” remarked Cook.
Cook is happy that his side has an opportunity to improve as they would be facing 10 straight games against the world champions-equally divided at home and away.
“We will know a lot more about this side after these games. We beat the (World Cup) runners up Sri Lanka and now it's the World Champions. We made some progress against Sri Lanka and now we need to do against a very good side (in India).” PTI
