Rajkot, Jan 10 : Despite a dominant Test series victory over India a few weeks, England skipper Alastair Cook is wary of the hosts, saying the players of his “underdog” side will have to play out of their skins to repeat success in the One-day series, beginning here tomorrow.
“Clearly we are the underdogs in this series but if you look through our side we have got a lot of firepower and world class players. For us to win this series, those world class players and everyone in our squad have to play out of skin,” said Cook ahead of the series-opener at the newly built Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Kandheri.
The England skipper, who had led his team to a Test series triumph in India after 28 years at the end of 2012, said the team was lacking a bit in experience due to injuries to key members.
“We have got an inexperienced side, a few experienced players missing through injuries and rotational policy. It's quite similar to probably the squad that we had last time. So, it will be a real big test to us as players and real good test to these guys who have been around now a bit in international scene to try and step up.”
The visitors lost both their warm-up games ahead of the series to India ‘A' and Delhi and Cook admitted it was not the kind of start they had wished before the series.
“Yeah, I know it's not an ideal start. I missed the first game and in the second game, it was apparent that we improved from the last game. I didn't see the first game and second game I think we improved a lot.
“For us to win, I think, it showed the challenge we are going to have in our hands. Our skill levels will need to improve a lot. Yeah, it's going to be hell of a challenge like the Test series in a way. We have to do something that no English has done for a while,” said the left-handed opener.
England last won an ODI series in India in 1984-85.
