India look for winning start in new season

Injury-ravaged India hope to make a fresh start in the new season by defeating England in the one-day series at home, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said on Thursday.

India's World Cup triumph in April was overshadowed by a disastrous tour of England a few months later when they were blanked 4-0 in the Test series to lose the number one ranking and also lost the one-dayers 3-0.

Dhoni's men get a chance to redeem themselves when they take on Alastair Cook's Englishmen in a five-match one-day series that opens in Hyderabad on Friday. "Our objective is to make a victorious start to the new season," Dhoni wrote in an exclusive piece for the Indian cricket board's official website (www.bcci.tv).

"We may have not been up to the mark in England, but the fact is that before that tour, we won the game's biggest prize, the World Cup. Our performances over the past three seasons speak for themselves.

"I am convinced that it is only a matter of time before we turn the tide."

Injuries to key players have taken such a heavy toll on the Indians that the 15-man squad for the England one-dayers has just four survivors from the side that beat Sri Lanka in the World Cup final in Mumbai on April 2. Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel have been sidelined with injuries, while Harbhajan and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth were dropped due to poor form. Dhoni hoped his three other World Cup team-mates Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli will lead the batting charge against the buoyant Englishmen. AFP