'We Need To Raise The Bar'

Back in the side after a nagging knee injury that kept him out of action fora whole year, Vaughan refused to bask in the glory of the 3-0 win against theWest Indies and felt his side would need to raise the bar if they were to beatRahul Dravid’s men in the three-match Test series.

"They bring a batting line-up that’s formidable and full of experience."

"They have quality bowlers -- there are a couple of left-armers (R.P. Singhand Zaheer Khan) and the young Sreesanth -- who I think is a real quality seamer-- and (Anil) Kumble with all his experience," Vaughan said in an interviewwith Sky Sports.

"They will pose probably a little bit of a bigger threat than the WestIndies.

"We might have to raise our bar just a little bit to ensure we get a goodseries victory against the Indians," added Vaughan.

The Yorkshire batsman also sounded wary of Team India’s middle order, whichsports an aged look with the trio of Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Gangulybeing on the wrong side of the 30.

"You’ve got no chance of getting me to say Sachin Tendulkar is ageing,"Vaughan said.

Vaughan said he was looking forward to an exciting series played between twoquality sides in electrifying atmosphere.

"It should be a great series as they always bring plenty of supporters,there are plenty of Indians living in England, and they always cram the groundsand make plenty of noise.

"It should be a great atmosphere for our team to play in," Vaughan said.

Lord’s hosts the first Test, which starts from July 19, while Trent Bridge(July 27-31) and the Oval (August 9-13) are the venues for the subsequentmatches.

Meanwhile, Sir Ian Botham feels England’s pace attack needed to be moreaggressive as the team goes into the "sterner Test of their revival" againstIndia.

"England’s Test side has rebooted promisingly since the Ashes horrorshow. But sterner Tests of their revival under new coach Peter Moores lie aheadagainst India, starting at Lord’s on Thursday," Botham said.

The legendary all-rounder praised Moores for his job during the seriesagainst the West Indies, but said the fast bowlers needed to be consistent andmore aggressive.

"Although there were some cheap runs and wickets on offer at times againstthe West Indies, I have no problem with England’s 3-0 win in the Test seriesand Moores scores high marks there.

"Some of our pace bowling will need to be more aggressive and consistentwhen India’s formidable top order comes to town," he was quoted as saying bythe Daily Mirror.

Botham, however, lashed out at the one-day side, saying they could not havegiven a worse performance than what they put up against the West Indies.

"As for the one-day team... we are still bloody woeful. England’s one-daycricket is another kettle of fish, however. I didn’t think it was possible forthem to play any worse than they did at the World Cup, but somehow they managedto by losing the NatWest Series against the Windies.

Let’s not mince words: We are going backwards and sliding down towards thebottom of the pile. Right now, England’s level of performance in limited overscricket is so bad the Eskimos would beat us... our whole approach isembarrassing."

PTI