Nottingham: With KL Rahul displaying impressive form with the bat in the early stages of the England tour, Indian skipper Virat Kohli will in all possibility bat at No.4 when the three-match ODI series against England gets underway here at the Trent Bridge ground, Thursday.
India will go into the series on a high, having beaten the hosts 2-1 in the T20 series. But they should remember that England will also be buoyant after their dominant 6-0 win against Australia last month. England have shown in the recent past that as a ODI side they are a force to reckon with and India will have to be wary.
As Kohli has indicated, India will experiment in the series again so that the players get a feel of the conditions as they prepare for the 50 overs World Cup which will be played in the UK at the same time next year.
England have been one of the finest 50 over sides in recent times and India will have their task cut out against a batting line-up comprising Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Jonny Bairstow and Eoin Morgan. Add Ben Stokes to it and England bear a formidable look.
With India’s top-order comprising Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Rahul and Kohli, it will be the responsibility of Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni and all-rounder Hardik Pandya to hold up the middle-order.
It remains to be seen whether India play both wrist spinners, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. With the Trent Bridge ground being bigger than the venues where the T20 games were played, India may be tempted to play both. The only cause of concern for India is the stiff back of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. If he doesn’t play, Siddharth Kaul or Shardul Thakur will share the new ball with Umesh Yadav.
Meanwhile talking to reporters here Wednesday, opener Rohit said that the management is yet to decide to Rahul’s batting position. “Rahul has the ability to play match-winning knocks. He certainly is playing. Whether he will bat at No.3 or No.4 depends on where (Virat) Kohli decides to go in,” informed Rohit.
The batsman also said that India respect England’s ODI prowess, but were not going to be cowered because of it. “England are a very good team and are ranked No 1. It won’t be easy for us to come out and snatch a victory. We have to be at our best and hopefully that will give us the result we want,” said Rohit.
- India have played 39 ODIs against England in England winning 14, losing 19 while there have been no results in six games
- England have won 46 out of 69 ODIs since the 2015 World Cup.
- England vanquished Australia 6-0 in their last ODI series
- Kuldeep (39 wickets in 20 ODIs) and Chahal (43 wickets in 23 ODIs) have been India’s main bowlers in the recent past
- In their last 69 matches, England have recorded 300-plus scores 31 times