Without a win but not short of either confidence or optimism, English opener Jason Roy on Saturday said his team is looking at the ongoing limited-overs ODI series against India as a stepping stone towards the Champions Trophy later this year.
"Of course you want to finish the series on a high but every game from now on till the Champions Trophy is going to be stepping blocks for us going into that huge competition," Roy said ahead of the third and final ODI here on Sunday.
Counting on the positives, he said: "We've got a huge amount of positives to take from the last few games. Although we got outplayed, we have put in some seriously good performances. We've scored 350 in the first game and 366 in the second. Those are positives to come out of that are amazing."
But each time they fell short and Roy said they were outdone by some outstanding individual performances in the Indian team.
"On both occasions I needed to stay in and get big hundreds. I should have done that, that was the plan. It didn't work out that way but like I said our batting unit got us to 350 and 370," he said.
"There's nothing wrong with the team. We're training very hard and having a good time. But like I said before, we've been undone by some incredible individual performances. We're a confident side and whatever we come up against, we're pretty confident. So we'll be alright," he added.
With his regular opening partner Alex Hales out with a fracture, Roy is set to open with Sam Billings who was seen having a full go in England's extended net session.
Showering praise on Billings, who has a strike-rate of 110.94 and 150.00 in ODI and T20Is, Roy said: "He's a fiery batsman. If he gets the role of No. 2, that would be great. He's a great guy to bat with -- runs hard, plays strong shots and that's exactly what we look for at the top of the order, just to set the tone."
"It's just a case of getting to know each other and I know everyone in the squad pretty well, so whoever I'm opening with is not a problem. He will just kind of fit straight in," he said.
Bairstow replaces Hales for T20Is
England wicket-keeper batsman Jonny Bairstow has replaced the injured Alex Hales in the squad for the three T20 Internationals to be played against India from January 26. Hales fractured his right hand while attempting a catch during the second ODI in Cuttack on Thursday, ruling himself out of the third ODI as well as the T20 series.
His replacement, Bairstow, was already part of the ODI squad and will now remain in India till the end of the tour. The England team announced the inclusion of Bairstow in the T20 squad on its Twitter handle. While Bairstow is yet to feature in the ODI series, he kept wickets for all five Test matches that preceded the limited overs series.