Expressindia> Sports
Group Websites
Expressindia
Indian Express
Financial Express
Screen
Loksatta
Channels
Blogs
Astrology
Shopping
Hotels
Tenders
Classifieds


MOST READ




Font Size - -A+A

4th ODI preview: Sachin, Yuvraj give England nightmares

Agencies

Posted: Nov 22, 2008 at 1436 hrs IST
      

Bangalore, November 22:: After three straight wins, India will seek to clinch the series by going for the kill in the fourth cricket one-dayer against England in Bangalore on Sunday with a batting line-up strengthened by the return of an in-form Sachin Tendulkar.

India need to win just one more match to wrap up the seven-match series and Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his brave-hearts will be eager to maintain their winning sequence in the floodlit encounter at the Chinaswamy stadium.

The visitors, on the other hand, have been left with the daunting task of winning four matches in a row to clinch the series and it appears extremely unlikely that they would be able to stop the Indian juggernaut.

The return of Tendulkar has no doubt made the Indian batting line-up more formidable but it would also force the hosts to tinker with the batting order.

Tendulkar had been rested for the first three matches of the series after playing in all the four Tests against Australia and it remains to be seen whether he will open the innings with Virender Sehwag.

It will be a tough decision for the Indian team management as making Tendulkar open the innings would mean tinkering with the highly successful opening pair of Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.

In case Tendulkar opens, the left-handed Gambhir, who is in very good form, may come in to bat at the number three slot.

For Tendulkar, it will be his first one-dayer in eight months having played his last match against Australia in Brisbane in March this year.

The champion batsman gave glimpses of his vintage form in the recent Tests series against Australia and will be keen to make his presence felt after the short break.

The Indian selectors have also brought back paceman Irfan Pathan into the ODI squad but it appears unlikely that he would get a chance to play tomorrow with Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Munaf Patel having bowled well.

The form of Yuvraj Singh, who has cracked two centuries already, has been the heartening feature of the Indian batting line-up and the hard-hitting middle order batsman will have to fire again if the hosts want to clinch the series on Sunday itself.

It has been smooth sailing for the Men in Blue so far in the series but India can't afford to relax and must guard against complacency.

On other hand, there is a lot at stake for the visitors, who need more than an inspirational performance to turn things around in the series.

England have a predominantly pace-oriented attack which has not made much of an impact on the slow tracks. They have now realised that an all-pace attack cannot do the trick and will have to include at least one specialist spinner in their playing eleven.

Captain Kevin Pietersen is likely to turn to off-spinner Graeme Swann to not only stem the run flow but also get the wickets of the Indian batsmen who are known to be good players of spin, particularly at home.

England's batting has also been quite disappointing with none of the top order batsmen being able to get the big knocks. It's a crunch time and there is no denying that it's a make-or-break situation for the visitors.

Time has come for England's bowlers to innovate, readjust quickly, bring some variations in the attack and get a spark or two to check the Indians who are in full flow.

The desperate and struggling tourists, hard-pressed as they were, would also look to stop their tormentor Yuvraj, whose batting and bowling have been a nightmare of a kind for them.

England can, however, take comfort from the fact that the third match at Kanpur was not a loss of face after two heavy defeats in the first two one-dayers.

They may feel that the team was done in by the Duckworth-Lewis system in Kanpur and may have robbed it of a win, but the fact remains that Dhoni's men were also fancying their chances as it was an achievable target.

What would make things a bit more difficult is that unlike the first three matches, tomorrow's fixture is a day-night affair and the Chinnaswamy Stadium promises to be a batting paradise.

"It's a sportive wicket, which should assist the batsmen more than the bowlers. The ball will come on to the bat nicely although the first session might help some bowlers," said pitch curator Narayan Raju.

Rain may play spoilsport

Rain may play spoilsport in the fourth one-day international between India and England as the Met department predicted that, "Moderate to rather heavy rain is forecast for the next 48 hours. It may rain in the region of three cms to five cms". It rained this afternoon, forcing the pitch to be covered.

Teams:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Virat Kohli, Pragyan Ojha, Irfan Patel

England: Kevin Pieternsen (capt), Ian Bell, Matt Prior, Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood, Ravi Bopara, Andrew Flintoff, Samit Patel, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann.

Rate this article
 
Post Comment :
Name * Message *
Email ID *
Subject *
TERMS OF USE:
The views, opinions and comments posted are your, and are not endorsed by this website. You shall be solely responsible for the comment posted here. The website reserves the right to delete, reject, or otherwise remove any views, opinions and comments posted or part thereof. You shall ensure that the comment is not inflammatory, abusive, derogatory, defamatory &/or obscene, or contain pornographic matter and/or does not constitute hate mail, or violate privacy of any person (s) or breach confidentiality or otherwise is illegal, immoral or contrary to public policy. Nor should it contain anything infringing copyright &/or intellectual property rights of any person(s).
I agree to the terms of use.
  • Comments
     
Why not
by Afzal Ahmed on 2008-11-23 11:26:23.131165+05:30
Lets do it. Nightmare in Bangalore. This time Tipu Sultan will be watching.
Reply | Forword
4TH ODI
by NISHA on 2008-11-23 06:22:14.729008+05:30
INDIA IS IN FULL FLOW . THE ONLY THING TO SPOIL IT IS THE RAIN. GOOD ARTICLE.
Reply | Forword
A straight win needed
by N.RAJ VIGNESH on 2008-11-23 04:54:27.217031+05:30
Team India should definitely go for a massive win today at Bangalore, in order to boost their self-confidence. Even I would suggest that India should not be complacent and do experiments, after winning the Bangalore ODI and thereby the series. The winning rhythm should be maintained, which will help them in their future matches. Moreover, their performance is going to be a befitting reply to the Australian players like Ponting, Hayden etc., who blabbered non-sense after losing the series 2-0.
Reply | Forword
© 2009 The Indian Express Limited. All rights reserved
The Indian Express Group | Advertise With Us | Privacy Policy | Feedback | Work With Us | Site Map