Pietersen readies England for tough tour

England touched down in Mumbai yesterday after a long flight from Antigua, via London, and their captain, Kevin Pietersen, was under no illusions that their tour of India is going to be a tough assignment.

"This series is going to be very difficult. Coming to India is tough. Beating India in India is tough. We drew the Test series last time but we got smashed 5-1 in the ODIs. We are just looking to improve," Pietersen said at a media briefing, at the Cricket Club of India, before the team's first practice session.

Pietersen, the highest-scorer in the one-day series on England's last tour of India in 2006, said to do well against India they needed to break the confidence of the hosts, which has been high since Mahendra Singh Dhoni became captain.

"He [Dhoni] is a free customer when he goes out. He doesn't get too emotionally wound up by the look of things," Pietersen said. "At the end of the day the players who play with him just want to do well. In terms of his captaincy he oozes confidence in the dressing room. We just need to try and keep that confidence down."

Yet Pietersen was not willing to call England the underdogs. Behind his own confidence was England's 4-0 one-day win over South Africa last summer, their most convincing limited-overs performance in recent times.

"We would have won 5-0 had it not rained in the final ODI in Cardiff. To beat South Africa 4-0, it's something we haven't done before. We are learning how to win."

Though England have hardly had a break since the Stanford Super Series in Antigua less than a week ago, they are far from jaded. According to Peter Moores, their coach, the Stanford games are now history. More importantly, Moores wants his team to perform in a similar fashion to the South Africa series.

"The key is to get consistent runs and our batters have to fire. That was one thing that worked very well against South Africa," Moores said. "With the extra pace of Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff and the bounce that they can create from their height it gives us a chance to take wickets in the middle. That could be really important.

"Steve is in a real good place. He is bowling very well. Even in the Stanford game, with all the pressure on, his first over was a great over. He's had a fantastic season in England and played well for Durham as they won the County Championship."

Moores admitted that Sachin Tendulkar not being part of the Indian squad for the first three ODIs was a "bit of a bonus". But, like his captain, he too singled out Dhoni as the dangerman.

England already have an injury concern to deal with, as Ryan Sidebottom is yet to recover completely from an calf injury he picked up in Antigua. The first of seven ODIs gets underway on November 14 in Rajkot.