India, not Stanford on Cook's mind

London, Oct 23 (IANS) England's cricketers might be eagerly waiting for the lucrative one-off Stanford Twenty20 match, but young opener Alastair Cook has set his sights on the India tour starting next month.

Cook, 23, has some sweet memories from the 2006 tour of India. He was touring the Caribbean with the England A team in March when he was called up to play against India.

This tall and stylish left-hander embarked on a 48-hour journey before making 60 and 104 on his Test debut. At 21 years and 69 days, he was the youngest England player to score a century in his first Test since Peter May in 1951.

'That trip from the Caribbean to India will remind me of a fantastic time in my life. Not the journey itself, because it was a bit hectic, but what it meant for me and how it all worked out,' Cook was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

England will play seven one-days and two Tests in India and Cook feels that the series will be tough.

'You can see how tough they're (India) playing against Australia. So it will be a tough series. It's an incredible place to tour and having been there before will help me prepare,' he said.

Cook has also raised a few eyebrows when he said the Stanford match was about money.

'We are very lucky to be able to earn this sort of money. It's impossible not to realise that this could be an incredible pay-day for us. But what I really meant was that this match was not as important as the year ahead of it. But this series is also about cricket, because it will help us plan for the Twenty20 World Cup tournament in England next summer,' he said.