The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, New Delhi

England's record of winning all its one-day internationals under new captain Kevin Pietersen will be severely tested as the tourists fight poor form and injury concerns going into Friday's opener of a seven-game series against India.

Arriving in India after an embarrassing 10-wicket defeat by the West Indies-based Stanford Superstars in a one-off $20 million Twenty20 match, England was bowled out for just 98 runs in its tour warm-up game Tuesday against a Mumbai XI.

Pietersen, who led England to wins in all four one-dayers since taking over the captaincy, says his batsmen need to greater focus for the coming games, and must learn from the tour match debacle.

"It has taught us a few quick lessons, I don't see that as a bad thing," Pietersen said.

England is also seeking an effective bowling combination, including paceman Jimmy Andersen and lone spinner Samit Patel in the lineup for the first one-dayer.Paceman Stuart Broad passed a fitness test and was included, after fast bowler Ryan Sidebottom was ruled unfit.

England is ranked third in the one-day rankings and India is placed fifth, but India has been buoyed and hardened by a just-completed series win over Australia while England was relatively short of competitive cricket.

After the opener in Rajkot, the series will continue on to Indore (Nov. 17), Kanpur (Nov. 20), Bangalore (Nov. 23), Cuttack (Nov. 26), Gauhati (Nov. 29) and New Delhi (Dec. 2). The one-dayers will be followed by two tests.

England last won a limited-overs series in India in 1984-85 when it prevailed 4-1. It drew limited-overs series in 1992-93 and 2001-02 but was hammered 5-1 when it last toured India in 2006.

Rejuvenated after new skipper Mahendra Dhoni took over India's one-day captaincy last year, the hosts will be looking to avenge a 4-3 series defeat in one-dayers when it toured England last year.

Dhoni lost his first one-day series to Australia at home last year, but went on to lead India to a tri-series triumph in Australia this year, followed by another win in Sri Lanka.

India goes into the contest against England fresh from a 2-0 test series victory over Australia, but Dhoni said switching to the one-day format so quickly would be difficult.

"Playing back to back series is never easy, and we've just had three days between five-day tests to one-dayers," Dhoni said.

Star batsman Sachin Tendulkar is being rested from the initial three one-dayers, while paceman Ishant Sharma was left out after spraining his ankle in the final test against Australia.