DLF League

Wednesday 19, November 2008

ODI PREVIEW 
 

India v England
Third ODI, Kanpur
November 20, 2008
Start time 09:00 local time (03:30 GMT)


After two matches and two emphatic victories for India’s irrepressible innovators, England’s tourists need an inspired performance at Kanpur in the third match of seven to avoid becoming whipping boys.

India’s current side shimmers with promise. Although the Godlike Sachin will return for the fourth match after being rested, this team has a refreshingly modern feel. There was evidence in the first two matches of a fizzing energy to India’s outfielding, a youthful athleticism which the likes of Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma have naturally brought to the party.

With MS Dhoni the peerless conductor behind the stumps, India is playing dynamic, high-octane cricket. It is one of the thrills of the modern game to see the spiritual and actual leader of this new team coolly directing his charges with such an unflashy air of authority; it is obvious for all to see that India’s young players, whilst not in any way inhibited, are desperate to play for their captain. The future is limitless for this team.

Another jewel is Ishant Sharma, and Dhoni’s mood will be further brightened by the news that he is back to full fitness. However, the management team will wait until the last minute before deciding whether to risk him. RP Singh would be the man most likely to make way should the hirsute one return.

Yuvraj’s World

With so many new players, Yuvraj Singh has had to adjust to his new position as a relative veteran. He must enjoy the new responsibility – with two masterful centuries, and the small matter of four wickets at Indore, the magic man has demonstrated the steel and toughness to complement those outrageous gifts. The sheer violence of his first hundred at Rajkot will be talked about for years, but his follow-up ton at Indore, coming to the crease at 29-3 with England sniffing a way back into the series, was arguably the superior innings. With five matches left in the series and his back complaint improving by the day, England’s bowlers must be dreading the carnage that could follow. It is in his hands.

England’s Moment of Truth

Back in August England were swaggering past South Africa in a one-sided one-day series, and playing the sort of energetic imaginative cricket that the top teams deliver daily. It was felt at the time that under Kevin Pietersen’s new regime a talented team would come out of its shell. But two reverses in India, plus the awkward week in Sir Allen Stanford’s beach hut in Antigua that ended in humiliation, and suddenly this team is searching for crumbs of comfort. They have brought in Graeme Swann, their number one spinner (Monty Panesar is not in the squad), and they must hope that he can bring them some semblance of control to the middle overs – picking up Yuvraj’s wicket would be a start.

At Rajkot they conceded their highest ever total and slumped to their third heaviest defeat in history, but at Indore, first with those three early wickets and then when Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff were bristling with the bat, they had their chances. At one stage the equation was 110 runs required from 13 overs with seven wickets in hand. And although Yuvraj’s two quick wickets duly dashed English hopes, the tourists will cling to those moments as a castaway would a broken barrel in a shipwreck.

The Venue

To Kanpur, the fifth largest city in India and home to six million Indians, the vast majority of whom will be tuned to the match on this pivotal day in the series. The omens are not good for England. Twice they have played ODIs here, and twice they have lost. Back in 2002 they encountered Virender Sehwag in murderous mood, his 82 from 62 balls seeing off the English challenge. India’s eight-wicket win was as emphatic then as it threatens to be this time round. At least the English are unbeaten in six Tests at the ground, with one victory.

Form guide (last 5 completed games, most recent first)
India WWLWW
England LLWWW

Likely Line-ups:

India:
1 Gautam Gambhir
2 Virender Sehwag
3 Suresh Raina
4 Yuvraj Singh
5 Rohit Sharma
6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk)
7 Yusuf Pathan
8 Harbhajan Singh
9 Zaheer Khan
10 Ishant Sharma
11 Munaf Patel

England:
1 Matt Prior (wk)
2 Ian Bell
3 Owais Shah
4 Kevin Pietersen (capt)
5 Andrew Flintoff
6 Paul Collingwood
7 Ravi Bopara
8 Stuart Broad
9 Graeme Swann
10 Steve Harmison
11 James Anderson