Advertisement

Depleted but India still dangerous at home: Cook

England`s ODI captain Alastair Cook said even a depleted India would be quite a handful in the upcoming series as Mahendra Singh Dhoni`s men would be playing on home turf even though his own side will have no problem in adapting to the conditions.

Hyderabad: England`s ODI captain Alastair Cook said even a depleted India would be quite a handful in the upcoming series as Mahendra Singh Dhoni`s men would be playing on home turf even though his own side will have no problem in adapting to the conditions.
England whitewashed an injury-hit India 4-0 in Tests and beat them 3-0 in a five-match ODI series when Dhoni and his men came visiting in July earlier. But Cook said the dominance in that series counts for little in the five-match series starting October 14. "I don`t read too much into the favourites tag. It is going to be a very different challenge, I don`t see any relation between what happened in England and what is going to happen here. India is historically strong at home," he told reporters, a day after his team`s arrival for the series. Once again India wear a depleted look with the missing list including the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Munaf Patel and Ishant Sharma due to injuries sustained on the tour of England. Asked if the lack of experience of bowlers in the Indian team would work to England`s advantage, Cook stressed that despite lack of international exposure, they would still be quite a force because of their grasp over local conditions. "They might be inexperienced in international games, but they are experienced in local conditions which is an important thing. Obviously it is going to be a tough challenge," he said. PTI