Liam Plunkett says winning in India during the next few weeks will ensure England take a major step towards their goals of winning this year’s Champions Trophy and being one of world cricket’s dominant teams.

Middlesbrough-born Plunkett flew out to India yesterday ahead of a three-match one-day series, starting on January 15.

England’s Test team endured a torrid time in India before Christmas, losing their series 4-0.

But the one-day and Twenty20 sides, with the latter also playing a three-match series later this month, are brimming with confidence ahead of a busy six months culminating in the Champions Trophy on home soil in June.

Since late 2015, England have beaten Pakistan in the UAE and won in Bangladesh in one-day cricket. They have also beaten Sri Lanka and Pakistan on home soil.

And, in terms of Twenty20 cricket, they reached the World T20 final in India immediately prior to the start of the last English summer, something Plunkett believes will help them on their current tour.

“In one-day cricket we’re an outstanding side, but it’s going to be a massive test for us,” said the former Durham quick.

“If we win this series in India, we’ll be going on to the West Indies with so much confidence and will have shown that we can win in different conditions.

“We are confident because we have a talented team.

“We played in India in the World T20 recently and were successful, apart from the final. That should help us this time.

“We’ve got India, the West Indies twice, South Africa, the Champions Trophy, it’s a big and exciting six months coming up.

“And we want to perform early on to make sure we go into the Champions Trophy confident.

“We’ve got a good unit and we have performed, but we can’t rest on our laurels because we want to be one of the dominant teams in the world.

“India in their own backyard is a completely different animal to what we have faced before.

“The way they are with the players they have, the depth they have from the IPL and things like that, if we can there it will be a huge achievement.”

Plunkett is in the squad for both the one-day and T20 series, and if they are to taste success, then the likelihood is they will have to keep India’s star man Virat Kohli quiet.

Kohli was in scintillating form during the recent Test series, scoring 655 runs from five matches at an average of 109.16.

“He’s been outstanding for a while now across all forms,” added Plunkett. “It seems that when he gets in, he’s go big whatever the format.

“He obviously works hard at his game, and by the looks of it he’s got fitter and fitter over the last few years, which means he can keep his technique and flair no matter the longer he bats.

“He’s an awesome player, but you want the biggest challenges. You want to play against the best teams and the best players in their conditions.”

Plunkett’s county colleague Joe Root is a doubt for the start of the one-day series as he awaits the birth of his first child. His partner Carrie is due imminently.