Mumbai: England captain Alastair Cook described the forthcoming four-Test series against India as a huge challenge as no team from his country has won a Test series here for three decades.
“It’s a huge challenge as history suggests. It is so hard for an English side to win in the sub-continent. We are just desperate to use the conditions in these three (warm-up) games and change things around,” said the left-handed opener at his first post-arrival media conference on Monday.
“Clearly the history shows how hard it is (to win in India). It’s been 30 years (since England won a Test series in India). That’s the sort of challenge we have ahead of us.
“Nowhere is it going to be easy; there are going to be really tough hurdles on the way. We have to overcome those challenges. As players we put ourselves in that situation as to what we want to do. If we want to be tested against the best in hard conditions then this tour is up there,” Cook elaborated.
The England team flew in from Dubai, where they practiced for a few days.
Cook was not too concerned about the nature of wickets that India would offer, saying, “We can’t control the wickets. We have to adapt to whatever the conditions. I am sure India will have to do the same job,” he said. (PTI)