England have never won a major One-day International (ODI) title, losing the 1979, 1987 and 1992 World Cup finals — all featuring Cook’s mentor Graham Gooch — as well as going down at home to the West Indies in the 2004 Champions Trophy final at The Oval.But, ahead of England’s defence of the Ashes, which starts next month, Cook said winning the Champions Trophy would be ‘right up there’.
“The lads are raring to go,” Cook told reporters at Edgbaston on Saturday. “I’ve never seen them as relaxed as we have been leading up to a big game. But I’m looking around in the guys’ eyes and I know they’re ready to play. We haven’t won a global 50-over tournament, as everyone keeps reminding me.
“There are certain moments in your career where you remember more than others, and if we can win this tomorrow [Sunday] then I think that would be right up there.”
India have so far won all their matches this tournament, whereas England suffered a group stage loss to Sri Lanka.
However, when England and India last met in English conditions in 2011 it was England who prevailed, winning a Test series 4-0 — with Cook scoring a Test-best 294 at Edgbaston — and the one-dayers 3-0.
“They’re unbeaten and have played some very good cricket. But our record against India last time we played them in England is a good record,” said Cook. “All I can say is the lads in the last two games under pressure delivered two excellent performances. I can’t see a reason why we can’t do it tomorrow.”
In-form opener Shikhar Dhawan, the tournament’s leading scorer with 332 runs including two hundreds at an average of more than 110, has been the cornerstone of a powerful India top order.
But an England attack led by swing specialist James Anderson has proved highly effective and Cook said: “We’ve got very skillful new-ball bowlers. If you do take some early wickets and put some pressure on their middle order who haven’t batted so much, that could work well for us.”
However, India pacemen Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma have also been in fine form.
“I think that’s why they’re probably the favourites…They’re scoring runs at the top of the order and taking wickets with the new ball,” Cook said.
England pace-bowling all-rounder Tim Bresnan is available following the birth of his son and could replace fast bowler Steven Finn.
But Cook said Graeme Swann, who has played just once this tournament because of back and calf problems, would not feature if there was a risk of further injury with Swann’s fellow off-spinner James Tredwell set to keep his place.
Meanwhile, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni hopes the final will produce an exciting game.
“England are a very good side and they know the conditions well. We have also played well in a tournament where you only face the best of teams,” Dhoni said on Saturday. “So it will be a good contest and very good for the spectators too. We as cricketers want to entertain the crowd. And that is how it is going to be.”
The dream final, worth $2 million to the winners, will be a mouth-watering clash between the two best teams in the eight-nation tournament.
India, winners of the World Cup at home in 2011, proved worthy of their No 1 ranking by cruising to the final with four straight wins — the last three by emphatic eight-wicket margins.
India’s squad contains just three players — Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Dhoni himself — who played in the World Cup final two years ago, but the captain insisted his team was not under pressure for the big game.
“We will prepare for the final the same way we prepared for the semi-final, or the game against Pakistan,” he said. “It’s a new game now. What happened in the past does not matter.”
Dhoni brushed aside worries that bad weather — rain has been forecast for the entire day on Sunday — could ruin the final in front of a packed Edgbaston.
“We will wait for tomorrow to see how the weather goes, we can’t go by the forecast,” he said. “In our semi-final against Sri Lanka, they said we may not even get a 20-over game and we ended up playing a full match.”
Dhoni said he expected Dhawan and company to continue their good form against the England attack.
“England are a very good bowling unit, but we are excited that our top order has played, and done well, against some of the best bowlers in world cricket in this tournament,” explained Dhoni.
Teams (from):
ENGLAND: Alastair Cook (captain), Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara, Jos Buttler, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, James Tredwell, Jimmy Anderson, Graeme Swann, Chris Woakes, Steven Finn, Jonny Bairstow.
INDIA: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Murali Vijay, Amit Mishra, R. Vinay Kumar.
Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) and Rod Tucker (Sri Lanka).
TV umpire: Bruce Oxenford (Australia).
Reserve umpire: Aleem Dar (Pakistan).
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka).—Agencies
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