Bresnan is leader of England’s attack now, says captain Cook

England are bidding, in five ODIs this month, to follow up a 3-0 home win over the world champions – and they also managed to snatch a tie in the World Cup in Bangalore back in March against a team featuring the mighty collective talents of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan.

Those three world-beaters are missing from the current India line-up because of injury, yet England still cannot fail to be mindful of well-documented difficulties on previous limited-overs trips to this country in which the overall scoreline from the last two tours stands at 10-1 in the hosts’ favour.

Cook, a winning captain in both his attempts so far since taking over permanently from Andrew Strauss, will dwell on neither past success nor failure as an accurate barometer of England’s chances.

What he is sure of, though, is that the players at his disposal – even in the absence of the rested James Anderson and the injured Stuart Broad and Eoin Morgan – are up to the challenge.

“It’s great to see the enthusiasm the youngsters bring,” he said after yesterday’s first training session of a four-week trip which will be a step into the unknown for several emerging cricketers. “A lot are on their first England tours, a very special occasion for them.”

Of those with slightly more experience, the need to deputise effectively for pace bowlers Anderson and Broad in particular is obvious.

“(Yorkshire’s) Tim Bresnan will now be the leader of our attack, and I think he’s looking forward to that challenge,” the captain added.

“Jade Dernbach and Steven Finn will have to step up as well, and I can see in everyone’s eyes how much they are looking forward to this opportunity and to having to stand up and be counted.”

Cook rules out the relevance of England’s evident superiority over India in the summer preferring to concentrate on the here, the now and the imminent future.

On Saturday, and next Tuesday, England will play a Hyderabad Cricket Association XI at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in day-night fixtures under the latest International Cricket Council ODI rules.

That means two new balls, one at each end, and both batting and bowling ‘powerplays’ to be taken in the middle 20 overs of the innings.