World Cup: Winning in India is tough but we aim to knock hosts ‘off their perch’, warns England seamer

England are the defending World Champions and entered this tournament with a badge of being the favourites to reclaim the top prize. However, to realise this dream, they must walk over a few tough teams in this competition, with hosts India being their biggest threat. Although this match is scheduled on a later date - Sunday (Oct 29), England seamer and a CWC winner, Chris Woakes, has sent warning signs of knocking India ‘off their perch’ to stand tall in the end.

New Zealand crushed England by eight wickets in the World Cup opener, but they found their way back by beating Bangladesh in their next match in Dharamsala.

Commenting on the prospect of winning back-to-back World Cups, Woakes admitted the subcontinent sides feel more at home playing in India than the ones from other continents.

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Woakes added with each passing game, the competition would get tough for each team, but England would take one game at a time and peak as the tournament progressed, something Woakes, in particular, has done quite a few times in the past.

"It's an incredibly tough challenge to win in India. Naturally, I think the sub-continental teams will feel more at home with the conditions," Woakes said, as quoted by Sky Sports.

"That makes it extremely hard for us to knock them off their perch, so to speak. But we've got the squad and the players to be able to compete. People have looked at us for a while, and we've had a little bit of a target on our back as a white-ball team, around the world.

"It's a tough competition to win, isn't it? Especially here. But we'll give it a good crack. We're taking it each game as it comes. Naturally, people have got expectations of us, and we've certainly got our own expectations of ourselves,” the right-handed seamer added.

‘Would’ve liked to bowl a bit better’

Having gone wicketless in the World Cup opener against New Zealand, conceding 45 runs from six overs, Woakes returned to his best against Bangladesh, picking two wickets, including those of Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz.

Aware of his below-par show so far in this tournament, Woakes admits he should have bowled better.

However, with him liking to peak at the right time, the veteran seamer is sure of contributing with more wickets.

"It's the start of a long tournament," Woakes said. "I certainly feel that I would've liked to have bowled a little bit better, but they are long competitions, and you don't want to peak too soon, I suppose.

"I have built into tournaments in the past and into series, which I suppose holds me in good stead moving forward. But you contribute every time you go out in the field, so I'll be working hard in practice to try and make sure that I'm on the money when I get the opportunity,” he added.

Meanwhile, England’s next game is against Afghanistan on Sunday (Oct 15) in Delhi.

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