Daijiworld Media Network

Kochi, Jan 15: Hello and welcome to the coverage of the second ODI between these two sides. Can India level the series tonight? Or will England continue to have a good tour of India? We witnessed a high scoring game at Rajkot and Kochi promises a similar encounter. Stay tuned for the toss and team updates.

India have won the toss and elected to bat.

Cook: 'We have to start fresh today. We've made good progress as an ODI side in the last one year but it's a fresh start. Bresnan is out with a small niggle, Woakes comes in.'

Dhoni: 'The wicket will slow down slightly. The climate is a factor - it's hot and will test the players' fitness. The pitch is different. It will not have much bounce and it will slow down. We gave away a bit too many runs in the last game but we were in a position to win the game last match. We have to look at that now. Shami Ahmed is in for Dinda.

Teams:

India (Playing XI): Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Shami Ahmed

England (Playing XI): Alastair Cook(c), Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Joseph Root, Eoin Morgan, Craig Kieswetter(w), Samit Patel, James Tredwell, Steven Finn, Jade Dernbach, Chris Woakes

Pitch report: 'It's hot and the humidity levels are high. The surface is new and looks flat. It will get slower as the game progresses. There is some moisture on top of the wicket but it is dry beneath. There will be turn straightaway, and the team winning the toss will look to bat first.' Courtesy: Ravi Shastri and Wasim Akram.

Preview

Still smarting from their narrow nine-run defeat in the opening ODI match, a struggling India will have to work on their bowling frailties and inconsistent batting as they take on England in the second one-dayer here on Tuesday with the pressure on the home team. Nothing seems to be going right for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men as India again started on the wrong foot against England. England on the other hand, will look to continue from where they left off and notch up a 2-0 lead in the series.

India

The Indians will have to give a serious thought to the team composition as another defeat may put immense pressure on the team and may make it very difficult to stage a comeback.

With the top order batsmen failing repeatedly, the team management may toy with the idea of bringing in Cheteswar Pujara though Dhoni is not keen to tamper with the composition of the team as yet. In the first ODI, India's bowling frailties were exposed as they conceded 38 runs in the last two overs, which cost them the match and the bowlers really have to sort out their problems of bowling at the death overs if the hosts have to bounce back.

In the last one-dayer, India got a decent start but the top-order failed to convert them even on a placid track at the newly built Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium. Openers Gautam Gambhir and Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh came up with good scores but none of them could stay on for a longer time. One of the major concern for India has been Virat Kohli's lack of form. In the last five matches, he has not been able to bat to his potentials and India lost three of them. At number three, Kohli has a big role to play and he has to come good if India hope of coming back to winning ways.

There is very little margin for error for bowlers on batting friendly conditions and unlike in the Pakistan series, conditions are not going favour the bowlers this time during the five-match one-day series against England. India's seam bowlers and spinners have lacked venom and it would be interesting how the hosts bowl at the Nehru stadium, which is also going to be a batting paradise. In the spin department, R Ashwin is very crucial for India but the off-spinner has not really been effectiveness so far. He used to control the game and take crucial wickets. But now, he is unable to bring in the required control and is becoming too predictable.

England

The English batsmen have come well prepared and any mistake by the Indian bowlers will be detrimental to the team's cause. Following their historic 2-1 victory over India in the Test series, the England side has returned for the one day series after Christmas and have an edge going into the second ODI.

England bowlers have shown tremendous resilience as even in difficult situations they never gave up. In the first ODI, the English bowlers were unperturbed and continued to attack even when Raina and Dhoni were scoring freely. James Tredwell deceived the Indian batsmen with his well crafted off-spin and his figures of 4 for 44 - four out of India's top five -- set the foundation for England's nine-run victory last Friday.

The pace trio of Jade Dernbach, Tim Bresnan and Steven Finn too have contributed well, sharing five wickets among them in the first ODI. Their batting also have been rock solid in the first game as the top-order fired in unison to post a mammoth 325 and now an inspired England will look to push for another victory on Tuesday.