Gambhir expects a battle royale

Kumar Sangakkara watches as Gautam Gambhir hits out in India's previous ODI series

In-form opening batsman Gautam Gambhir has warned his India team-mates not to take England lightly in the upcoming one-day international series.

The left-hander emerged as top scorer in the recent Border-Gavaskar Test series against Australia, despite missing the last match due to a disciplinary ban.

India won the series 2-0 and are expected to subject Kevin Pietersen's side to a tough examination in the seven-match one-day series.

England have displayed poor form in the run-up to one-dayers against India, losing to the Stanford Superstars in Antigua and suffering defeat at the hands of a Mumbai XI in a warm-up match.

But Gambhir refused to write off the tourists in the light of their 4-0 NatWest Series win over South Africa.

"If you look at the way they played that series, they were able to beat the South Africans really convincingly," Gambhir said.

"They will be on a high because of that and we are on a high too because of the kind of cricket we played against Australia.

"I think it's going to be a very even contest. You really need to play well to beat England.

“You can't take them lightly because they have a fantastic bowling attack and a very good combination.

"We would really need to play out of our skins to beat them.”

India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni also refused to read too much into England's 124-run loss in the practice match against Mumbai XI.

Gambhir courted controversy in the Border-Gavaskar series but his batting shone brightly

"We are not really bothered about it," Dhoni said. "In a practice game you always try to do a few things.

"You may plan a few strategies that may not work and you end up having a bad result.

"The important thing for us is to do well from here on."

Dhoni has led India’s one-day team with remarkable success ever since he was handed the captaincy in September last year.

The wicketkeeper-batsman led India to triumph in the World Twenty20 in South Africa and backed up that win with one-day series victories in Australia and Sri Lanka earlier this year.

But Dhoni acknowledged that India were not invincible.

"It's possible that we would lose a few matches," he said. "If we do lose matches, the important thing is not to feel low.

"We will win some and lose some but we need always to have a positive frame of mind."

Dhoni feels the new powerplay rule introduced by the ICC in October adds another element of interest.

The new regulation allows the batting side to decide when the third powerplay would be taken.

"It is interesting," Dhoni said. "It means when you plan a few strategies on the ground, suddenly you find the opposition asking about the five overs. You have to be ready for it.

"It's hard to say exactly how it would work or how much it will help the side batting first or second.

"People say it would help the team batting second, but its effect is a little confusing at the moment."