Mid-Day

Tim Bresnan believes England can approach this month’s one-day series against India in a confident frame of mind after an impressive start to their winter programme.

Gearing up: Tim Bresnan during an England training session. Pic/Getty Images.

History is against the tourists, who have won just 13 out 40 ODIs away to India and claimed their only series triumph in 1984-85.
The last two series between the sides in India have ended in 5-0 whitewashes for the hosts but Bresnan sees reason for cheer in England’s efforts before Christmas.

A 2-1 victory in the Test series saw England reverse an equally daunting record in that format, before a battling display in the final match of the trip saw them square the Twenty20 series 1-1.

Speaking after the first training session under new limited-overs coach Ashley Giles, Bresnan said: “We definitely go in with a lot of confidence.

“We won the Test series and then the Twenty20 win at the end, just before Christmas, was a massive confidence boost. “If we can play similar cricket to that in a longer format then we shouldn’t have a problem.” Despite his optimism, Bresnan does not expect India to make life easy.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s side is coming under strong criticism locally after losing consecutive one-day matches to fierce rivals Pakistan, but Bresnan anticipates a response. “India are a good side, make no bones about that,” he continued. “Each and every international team has a dip in form but they can come back very strong and very quickly. We are expecting a stern test.”