We have to play out of our skins: Cook

Rajkot, Jan 10 (IANS) England skipper Alastair Cook Thursday said that his boys have to play put of their skins to win the five-match ODI series against India that starts Friday with the first game at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium here in Kandheri.

“Clearly we are the underdogs in this series but if you look through our side we have got a lot of firepower and world class players. For us to win this series, those world class players and everyone in our squad have to play out of skin,” said Cook.

The England skipper said the team was short on experience due to injuries.

“We have got an inexperienced side, a few experienced players missing through injuries and rotational policy. It’s quite similar to probably the squad that we had last time.

“So, it will be a real big test to us as players and real good test to these guys who have been around now a bit in international scene to try and step up,” he said.

As the visitors lost both their warm-up games to India ‘A’ and Delhi, Cook said it wasn’t the ideal start to the series.

“Yeah, I know it’s not an ideal start. I missed the first game and in the second game, it was apparent that we improved from the last game. I didn’t see the first game and second game I think we improved a lot,” said Cook.

The England captain feels that his side will have do something that no English side has done in the past to win the ODI series.

“For us to win, I think, it showed the challenge we are going to have in our hands. Our skill levels will need to improve a lot. Yeah, it’s going to be hell of a challenge like the Test series in a way. We have to do something that no English has done for a while,” he said.

IANS 2013-01-10 20:42:03