Daijiworld Media Network
Rajkot, Jan 11: Welcome one and all for the first ODI between India and England from Rajkot. It is a brand new stadium and it is a fresh start again for India. After having lost the ODI series against Pakistan 1-2, India will look for a good start against an England side that have lost two of their warm-up games.
England have won the toss and elected to bat.
Dhoni: 'The wicket might remain the same and the outfield is fast, so chasing might not be a bad thing. We have to field well and the aggression shown on the field during the third ODI against Pakistan was good. It will be tough for the bowlers. Ashok Dinda replaces Shami Ahmed.'
Cook: 'We will bat first. We have had two warm-up games. We have a young squad. It looks like a great wicket and we want to make first use of the wicket. Joe Root will make his debut. It is the first international game here but it looks like big runs will be scored on this pitch.'
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Ashok Dinda
England (Playing XI): Alastair Cook(c), Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Joseph Root, Eoin Morgan, Craig Kieswetter(w), Samit Patel, Tim Bresnan, James Tredwell, Steven Finn, Jade Dernbach
Pitch Report: It is a flat deck. There will be a bit of carry with the new ball. There is an even spread of grass and the outfield is fast. The spinners will find some grip and it is a 300 plus wicket. The team that wins the toss will opt to bat first.
The last two bilateral series between these two nations in India resulted in India thrashing England 5-0. England last won an ODI against the hosts in India in 2006 and they will desperately look to change that record this time around.
Preview by Karthik Lakshmanan
These are interesting times for both India and England, when it comes to One Day International cricket. While India have been bruised and exposed by arch rivals Pakistan, England is a team on the ascendancy in this format. With India's wobbly form and England's good record in ODIs recently, the series promises to be a closely-fought one.
India:
The wounds from the 1-2 series loss to Pakistan will be fresh but India have a chance to redeem themselves early in the year. A glance at some numbers from the Pakistan series will explain India's problems in detail; barring MS Dhoni, who scored 203 runs in the three games, no batsman tallied 100 in the series (the next best was Suresh Raina, with 92 from 3 games). The need for stability has been recognized by the selectors and Virender Sehwag has been dropped for Cheteshwar Pujara. Pujara has celebrated his ODI call-up with a triple century in the Ranji Quarter-final against Karnataka, but he may have to wait for his turn in the national eleven. There are concerns about Gambhir's form as well, but the likes of Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh will also be eager to get back among runs in the series. It will also be interesting to see if MS Dhoni, the best batsman in the ODI team, will bat higher in the order given the top order's patchy form. The batsmen's inability to handle quality bowling on tracks with some help was exposed by Pakistan's bowling attack. England's attack, without Swann and Anderson, should be a lot easier for the out-of-form Indian batsmen to handle.
Quite surprisingly, India's bowling is less of a concern compared to the batting. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the find of the Pakistan series and consistently gave the early wickets. He was ably supported by Ishant Sharma, who has been impressive since his ODI comeback. Shami Ahmed impressed in the only game he got at Delhi, and should retain his place in the eleven.
England:
England lost 0-5 the last time they played an ODI series in India, but a lot has changed since then. In the year 2012, they lost only 2 of their 17 matches and look a settled unit in this format under Alastair Cook. The team got an early jolt ahead of the series though, as they lost both the warm-up games against India A and Delhi. The batting will once again look up to captain Cook and Kevin Pietersen, while Ian Bell is the man in form with a century and a 91 in the 2 warm up games.
England's bowling is without James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann and looks slightly inexperienced on paper. However, Steven Finn will be a tough bowler to handle for India's batsmen, as he showed in the last series in 2011. The spin attack is formed by Samit Patel, Danny Briggs and James Tredwell - not the names that will cause sleepless nights for India's batsmen.
Final word:
The last time England won an ODI series in India was in 1984/85. The last time England defeated India in India, in an ODI was in 2006. History is against England, but MS Dhoni and his men will be aware that history counts for little, as Cook showed in the recently concluded Test series.
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