Eoin Morgan takes inspiration from NZ and SA ahead of first ODI against India

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England's ODI captain has compared the current challenge of facing India in their own backyard to the difficulty of playing swing bowling on English pitches. Morgan also played down worries about England's death-overs bowling after they conceded massively in the practice games against India A.

"The challenge of winning in India is huge, (but) it is one that's not impossible, it has happened recently. South Africa turned India over, New Zealand pushed them close," Eoin Morgan told PTI, on Saturday, referring to South Africa's 3-2 ODI series win in 2015 and New Zealand's near loss by 2-3 against India last year.

"One of the biggest challenges here is adapting to conditions. I think the thing that we draw from it is the confidence in knowing that we have played in these conditions before," he added.

England's ODI captain said he did not look too much into the team's analysis of the Test series which they lost by a margin of 0-4 .

"It's always going to be a challenge. It's like coming to England and facing swing bowling. Playing anybody in their home conditions is a challenge and how you adapt to that and how you negotiate that I think can determine where a game is won or lost.

"I have no input in the red-ball stuff. I know they tried hard and gave it all they had," Morgan said.

The Irish-born cricketer also said that his team will play to their strengths given the amount of attacking talent present in the team.

"I would not say fearless, I would just like to think we like to play in our own way. The players that we have are very outgoing, very expansive and very explosive, and can stick to their natural game which is quite an aggressive game.

"Trying to be somebody else or trying to be a different team does not work for us. We try to be ourselves and be comfortable within our skins, and I think that has worked," said the visiting skipper.

Speaking about England's batting in the limited-overs, Morgan said, "For the last couple of years, our batting unit as a whole has been extremely strong. It would not say it's well set, but it is a very difficult unit to get into. Everybody has performed at some stage over the last two years, and when they have done, they've contributed in series wins, majority of the time, particularly the batters."

The good show of Sam Billings and Jonny Bairstow in the two warm-up games in Mumbai also pleased the England captain.

"It's great that they are in form and it gives us a wide selection option to choose from," he said.

Morgan did not think his team's death bowling is a worrying factor after India A scored big in the two warm-games.

"You can't ignore the first 35 overs. It's a product of the modern day game. It is a given that on an average your last ten overs might go for between 85 to 115. It's a very difficult time to bowl, because majority of the time you are bowling to guys who have one agenda and that is to try and hit the ball out of the ground," he explained.

Morgan also looked at senior pacer Liam Plunkett's return to the ODI squad as a positive sign.

"Liam Plunkett's fitness is coming along really nicely. He will be fit for selection tomorrow. He obviously came on tour with a bit of niggle, but has built it up nicely. He did not bowl as much as we would have liked the other day but he will be available for selection," the left-hander confirmed.

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