India may have lost two more key players in Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma due to injuries, but England batsman Ian Bell feels the visitor still pose a threat to them in the second one dayer here on Tuesday.
Tendulkar was ruled out of the five—match series due to a recurrent toe injury while Sharma broke his index finger during the first ODI.
“Whether, it’s a young side or experienced, one thing we know about Indian cricketers is that they have a lot of ability and lot of talent and it should be a good game regardless of their injuries,” Bell said on the eve of the match.
“If the entire team is fit, it’s very hard to break into a fit (Indian) team, so I guess guys would be desperate to take wickets and desperate to score runs,” said Bell.
It will be Bell’s 100th one—day international match and the absence of Kevin Pietersen has allowed him to move from number six to number four position - a development the Warwickshire batsman is clearly relishing.
“I would like to bat in any one of the top four positions. There you can build your innings and go through and that probably is my strength. At number six, a majority of time you have 15 overs to go and you are looking to score boundary from the ball one.
“I am not the guy who can send a ball few rows back. I like to hit it over extra cover. I desperately want to give it a good go,” he said.
