The 2017 Champions Trophy will kick off on June 1 with England playing Bangladesh at the Oval. Speculations on who will win the tournament and who will be the toughest side to beat have been doing the rounds since the announcement of the venue and England have won a majority of the votes.

"We experienced that in India, they are pretty hard to get past, and that's something that is going to be a challenge for every other team in the Champions Trophy as well. We always related to England as a very strong Test team, but in last two or three years post [the 2015] World Cup, they've really changed the way they play their cricket.", Kohli said.

The setbacks away or at home have not perturbed the English side who have scored over 300 nine times out of ten when they have batted first. They also put up a record total of 444-3 against Pakistan at Trent Bridge last year. .

Asked if he sees any shortcomings in the England team, the India skipper said, "Not at the moment, especially in their conditions, they are pretty strong.

"For the whole batting line-up to play like that is pretty rare. You always have two or three guys playing through the innings, but for them it's all about attack, throughout the 50 overs which is exciting for the fans and challenging for the opposition. You have to be on top of your game to get past a team like that."

India are No 3 in the ICC ODI rankings, behind top-ranked South Africa and Australia. England are fifth.

"As far as the team goes, we won last time because our fast bowlers did very well, our spinners were strong and our opening batsman did well," he said.

"They were the main three factors. This year the team is a lot fitter, the cricketers are a lot more mature because that was a very young group four years ago. It has gained a lot of experience in the last three or four years. I love the tournament because it represents a challenge from the go."