Batting is key for Moores

Peter Moores has pinpointed England's batting unit as the key to their chances of success in the forthcoming seven-match one-day series against India.

Coach Moores believes the batting unit will be crucial to how England cope with an Indian side full of confidence following their performances in the ongoing Test series against Australia.

"All the players will play their part, but I still think the key will be to get consistent runs," said Moores, whose side will be looking for their first one-day series triumph on Indian soil since 1984-5

"To be successful in one-day cricket, our batting is going to have to fire. During the South Africa series, the whole batting unit worked very well. The top order took responsibility, and the whole team made sure they batted all the overs - which is going to be crucial over here."

That was the big lesson learnt from England's previous visit to India two years ago, when they were dismissed inside their allotted overs on four occasions and slipped to a 5-1 mauling.

Captain Kevin Pietersen, who was a key member of that side two years ago, has bitter memories of the experience but believes the current squad has the capability to perform much better in the coming weeks.

"India are playing great cricket at the moment, and that means it will be a tough series. But we've been playing good cricket as well," said Pietersen.

"The last month that we played against South Africa we beat them 4-0, and I think it would have been 5-0 if it hadn't rained in Cardiff - which is something we haven't done before.

"We're learning how to win, and I think the boys are hungry to do well out here. Coming to India is tough - and winning here is tougher, as we learnt last time when we had a great draw in the Test series and then got smashed in the one-dayers.

"We need to improve on that, and India are playing some really good cricket at the moment and are being led well by MS Dhoni."