After a Test series debacle, MS Dhoni’s men would like to avert the 2011 disaster where they lost the ODIs as well as hosts England look to pile more misery to the Men in Blue.
After a Test series debacle, MS Dhoni’s men would like to avert the 2011 disaster where they lost the ODIs as well as hosts England look to pile more misery to the Men in Blue.
With the morale already down and out, MS Dhoni would want his young turks to make a fresh beginning and salvage lost pride in the five-match ODI series starting on Monday.
The Indian team will look to ignore the Test loss and focus purely at the ODI task on hand. With the World Cup next year, Duncan Fletcher and Dhoni would look to see out the balance within the side before defending the title Down Under. The World Cup, to be hosted by Australia and New Zealand, is now just six months away and yet, the likes of Dhoni and the Kohli might just get the ‘hangover’ of Test series loss.
But this side breathes new fire and freshness. The Indian selectors have brought in the likes of Sanju Samson and Karn Sharma, the duo who have shone in the IPL as well as domestic competitions. But doubt remains whether the two will get the nod ahead of the likes of Suresh Raina or Ravi Ashwin in the pecking order. But young spinner Karn Sharma can try his hand in the playing eleven as the middle-order and all-round/spin-option slots have enough contenders at the moment.
Starting with the latter, Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin will fill up the two spin options in the playing eleven. Though medium-pacer Stuart Binny was picked in the New Zealand and Bangladesh series, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a little wary about using four bowlers as it slows down the over-rate.
England comes into this series on back of a thumping Test victory but Alastair Cook has a different bearing in the ODIs. After losing the series against the Sri Lankans, India posses a great deal of threat and must not underestimate them. Like their opponents, the Poms too have the World Cup target attached, more so because this is their final outing at home before the grand tourney in Australia.
Keeping that in mind, the selectors and the team management have made certain changes to the squad that played against Lanka. Ravi Bopara got the boot, while Tim Bresnan and Michael Carberry have also been left out.
Steve Finn fills in for the injured Stuart Broad who will undergo his long pending knee surgery. Most notable is the inclusion of Alex Hales, who will now open the innings with skipper Alastair. The likes of Hales, Bell, Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler retain enough fire-power to trouble the Indian bowling attack. Also the threat of James Anderson could also provide the much worthy sting to the visitors.
Teams:
India – MS Dhoni (c & wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Karn Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Shami, Dhawal Kulkarni, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
England: Alastair Cook (c), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Jos Buttler (wk), Steven Finn, Harry Gurney, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Eoin Morgan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, James Tredwell, Chris Woakes.
