India play England in Mohali on Thursday looking to take a 3-0 series win against the tourists
England take on India in the third one-day international on Thursday knowing they must win to keep the series alive. Alastair Cook’s men have been woeful in the two matches to date so can they turn things around and get back into the series? (India 8/13, England 5/4 Match Prices).
Much was made of how difficult England would find it on the sub-continent prior to the series starting, and how India would gain revenge for last summer’s defeat in England, and the predictions have, by and large, come true.
But having dominated the Indians totally last summer, there must have been an inner confidence among the touring party that they could become the first England side to win a one-day series in India since 1985.
So what has gone wrong?
There is no secret to one-day cricket and it is quite a simple formula for success, as the teams that score heavily in the top three batsmen and use the middle and lower order to bat around them towards the end of an innings usually comes out with a big enough score to win.
England have not done that and have been guilty of players getting in and getting out, and Cook has already alluded to the fact that pretty 30s and 40s are no good if you want to win a match.
India bucked the trend in the first ODI with the middle order gaining the bulk of the runs but it was Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir’s partnership at three and four that destroyed England second time around.
England’s batsmen are good enough to score runs against this Indian attack even in Asian conditions but they were undone by spin in Hyderabad and by the seamers in Delhi.
Shot selection has been poor and it could be claimed that the series has an air of ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’ about it following last summer’s heroics.
Therefore Andy Flower might look to freshen things up a little with Ian Bell waiting in the wings, and Craig Kieswetter’s place looks up for grabs at the top of the order as he has failed to deliver (Bell 5/1 Top Eng Batsman).
Chris Woakes would have been an option to provide batting and bowling support but injury has robbed England of his services and it might be tempting to give young Stuart Meaker a run-out to try and shake things up with his express pace.
Tim Bresnan looks tired and his bowling is meat and drink to the Indian batsmen on home soil and England might decide to try leg-spinner Scott Borthwick to change the pace of the game and give MS Dhoni’s men something else to think about.
There are options available but what really needs to happen is for the likes of Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott and Ravi Bopara to step up to the plate and hit a three-figure score.
England are a tough side to beat once they have a decent score on the board and doubts might start to creep into the Indian side if they do have to chase more than 300 after what happened just a few weeks ago.
There is no doubt that the hosts will be looking for a clean sweep in the series as payback for last summer’s woes in England and, with Kohli in sparkling form, there seems no reason why they should not do it (Kohli 100/30 Top India Batsman).
He showed signs of maturity in England and took his game to a new level with a superb display in Delhi, while Gambhir proved that he does not need Sachin Tendulkar at the other end to score runs.
India do look a much better unit at home but there is a feeling among the England players that they might still have a say in proceedings and Dhoni’s side is not that superior.
Good players that dominated just two months ago do not become bad overnight and, with a few home truths aired between matches and the odd change of personnel, England might just be able to bounce back and sneak this one to get a foothold in the series.
