"They know the home conditions better than us so it will be a tough battle. And a long battle, five Tests, five ODIs and one T20I. After a long time we are playing a five-Test series. So it will be something new for us," Dhoni said.
England lost the Test series 0-1, the ODI series 2-3 and the lone Twenty to Sri Lanka but Dhoni said that it would not prudent to rate England low due to their recent unfavourable results.
Dhoni also had kind words for his under-fire counterpart Alastair Cook, who is reeling in the aftermath of some very bad results, off-late compounded by his own poor form.
"You just have to see his record, how he performed when we were here last time. A bad patch of form is for every player but you need to back good players. When you score 100s or 200s all critics come on your side. But the real test of character is when you are not doing well but you still have the support of your team-mates, fans and media," said Dhoni.
"As a captain you need to help each player and it gets you that respect. What is also very important is that when you are not doing well, help maintain the dressing room atmosphere because that is very tough phase and doubts don't help anyone. At the end, it is about keeping things simple," he added, sharing a leaf or two from his own book.