The Palam ground wore a festive look with last-minute sprucing up in progress to welcome the England team for a one-day warm-up match against India ‘A’ on Sunday.
Eoin Morgan, the rising batting star of England, conveyed the “confidence” of the England team ahead of the five-match one-day series against India.
“To finish the year like that (beating India 2-1 in Tests and tying 1-1 in T20s) is something special.
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“We’re looking forward to this series against a high profile team. It’s going to be tough challenge because conditions are different from what we are used to back home.”
Morgan, who gave England a last-ball win with a six off Ashoke Dinda at Mumbai in the T20 match on Dec. 22, said, “The six: I think it has (given confidence). It (the win) has given lot of confidence to a budding unit. We can take it as deep as we can against a very experienced side like India.”
With India struggling, Morgan was not sure if this was the best time to take the team on. “I don’t know the best time to play against India.
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“We know how dangerous they are and how successful they have been. India is the World Cup champion.
“They might be going through a bad patch. They have some very, very dangerous cricketers, guys who can turn the game any moment.”
Reflecting on England’s 2-1 Test series win, Morgan said, “The confidence of winning over here, having not done so for a very long time, the confidence of being on the winning side against India, also the fact that our spinners took wickets. It all adds to the confidence.”
India ‘A’ coach Lalchand Rajput hoped the match would boost the “spirit” of the boys wanting to play against experienced side.