He made his ODI debut alongside Kevin Pietersen, against Zimbabwe at Harare in November 2004, and was named man-of-the-match for his efforts with the bat (75).
Four years on, after some ups and downs, he has consolidated his position in the England line-up as a dependable opener.
When India toured England last year, he scored 432 runs @ 70.33 in seven ODIs, including his lone ODI hundred -- 126 not out at The Rose Bowl -- helping his side to a memorable 4-3 win in the ODI series. He was adjudged the man-of-the-series.
A little more than a year later, Ian Bell is back, with similar intentions. And no prize for guessing who his captain is this time. The same man with whom he made his debut -- Pietersen.
Excerpts from an interaction with Special Correspondent Bikash Mohapatra
What are your expectations from this India tour?
We have got some exciting one-day cricket coming up. We need to have a good start.
There is a big challenge coming for us in the next 12 months [read Ashes] and this series can be a perfect build-up to that.
What will be England's strategy for the upcoming seven-match ODI series?
We have to look at the wicket very quickly and assess it as fast as we can. Then it is all about playing spin well, getting our bowlers a total to defend.
Indian grounds have quicker outfields, so you have to just pick the gaps. You are going to get the runs.
I have also spoken to Andy (Flower) and he said there is no need to go aerial.
You are playing in quite a few places?
Yeah, it is a lot of traveling. But we are looking forward to it.
Would you'll have liked it if the tour had more Tests than one-dayers?
It would have been great to play more Tests. In Sri Lanka, we had only one-dayers last year. We then went back home and came back for a Test series. I thought that made sense.
Your take on the Indian bowlers? The Australian batsmen had a lot of trouble facing them in the just-concluded series?
From what I have seen on the television, the Indian bowling looks good.
The left-armers posed problems for us in England. And here, in these conditions, reverse swing will play a big part.
Any memories of the last time you toured India? [England were tharshed 5-1 in the ODI series]
The last time we were here, I didn't get to play much. I was mostly the 12th man.
[Bell played in the final two one-dayers in Jamshedpur and Indore and scored 46 and 32 respectively. But the series had been decided in the hosts' favour by then]
But it was obvious that we didn't play well. But we are a much improved one-day side now.
A lot has been said about the Stanford Twenty20 and it has come under criticism from various quarters. What was your experience like?
It was a good experience, quite different from a usual week in international cricket. Wickets are very much geared up for batting these days and T20 allows the batsmen to go for the shots. But we want to forget Stanford now and concentrate instead on the season ahead.
You played most of your career under Michael Vaughan's captaincy. How would you compare Kevin Pietersen, the current captain, to his predecessor?
Vaughnie (Michael Vaughan) was fantastic. I played a lot of my cricket under his captaincy.
Kevin has had a great start, is passionate about the game, tells us what he feels and sets an example on the field. He wants an aggressive bowling attack and an equally aggressive batting line-up.
Hopefully, he will continue for a long time as the England captain.
After more than four years of international cricket, how would you asses your career?
At 26, my best years are ahead of me.
Photographs: Bikash Mohapatra
