Team India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coach Duncan Fletcher addressed the media in Mumbai on Saturday ahead of their long tour of England. India will play five Tests, five ODI matches and one T20I during June-September 2014.
Here are a few key points which Dhoni shared with the media:
* “It will be a good exposure tour. We have youngsters who have a few games behind them”.
* “We are going a bit early and it will help especially since it’s a long series. Overall it’s looking good”.
* “During the 2011 England, we had 8-9 injuries. It put lot of presure on us and we didn’t have part timers with us then”.
* “2011 was a difficult period for us. We lost the series 7-0 and later lost in Australia also”.
* “There are quite a few things we learned from those tours”.”It will be a challenge for all members of the tour. We have 18 member squad and its a long series”.
* “The squad looks big but we needed it because last time we lost too many players due to injuries”.
* ”It is important to have good practice session before the tour starts”.
* “Overall I was happy with the effort put up in South Africa. The bowlers tried their best”.
* “Zak (Zaheer Khan) reads the game well and left-arm pacers do have slight advantage. The more games Zak plays, the better he gets”.
* “I can’t say at the moment whether we will miss Zak (Zaheer) or not”.
* “The tracks in England depend a lot on the conditions. If it’s overcast, then the ball will swing”.
* “It is very difficult to replace Sehwag at the opening slot and Rahul bhai (Rahul Dravid) at no. 3″.
* “It will be a good challenge for these boys. They have got good exposure now in past two series”.
* “What I have realised is that I have to be aggressive when I bat. If the ball is in my slot, I should go after it”.
* “My role is to go and play my strokes”.
