Jolted by the opening loss to Australia, India would look to plug the bowling loopholes and ensure a stronger batting display when it takes on England in its second ODI tri-series match here on Tuesday.
In Brisbane, both sides will be looking to register their first win in this tournament with the host having stolen a march with two successive wins.
Australia beat England by three wickets in Sydney on Friday and then beat India by four wickets in Melbourne on Sunday. It took a bonus point from the first game as well and sits pretty on nine points from two games.
In this series, billed as the dress rehearsal for the upcoming ODI World Cup, these two sides will be keen to get a win under their belts.
India can take some solace from its match against Australia in the sense that it pushed the host a lot closer.
By their own admission, the Australian batsmen were going for that bonus point against England and thus lost quick wickets in the middle order. The repeated mini-collapse against the Indian bowling was no such fluke.
Two bowlers played a key role in squeezing the run-rate, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Axar Patel. It was quite a positive for the Indian team, reeling under the inconsistency shown by the attack in the preceding Test series.
Under spotlight Coming on the heels of their Sunday outing, Indian bowlers — in particular Kumar and Patel — will be under the spotlight.
A similar bowling performance will be expected from the duo and if they are able to deliver, then it will be a huge step forward for this attack considering R. Ashwin had an off day in Melbourne.
Dhoni will also be looking for consistency from Rohit Sharma. He batted with much calm amid wickets falling at the other end and looked keen to make his start count.
More importantly, he was prepared to run hard between the wickets and rotate the strike, a trait previously missing in his batting in overseas ODIs last year. If he continues to do the same, then the debate over his opening position in favour of Ajinkya Rahane will be a thing of the past.
However, that topic could re-start at the other end if Shikhar Dhawan too fails. It is too early to comment on his failure in Melbourne.
In the last couple of years, India’s ODI record against England has been quite good. Since the 2011 tour when it didn’t win a single game, the Men in Blue have recorded 12 wins in 15 matches, four of them coming in England (one in 2013 and three in 2014). The rest have all come in sub-continental conditions.
England has called upon the services of its former star all-rounder Andrew Flintoff during the net session in Brisbane on Monday, in the hope of garnering some confidence and motivation from the Big Bash player.
Obviously, it has opted to not give a call for help to Kevin Pietersen, who is also in the country to play the T20 league. And so, it remains to be seen what effect Flintoff’s words will have on Tuesday’s performance.
The teams (from): India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt. & wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Stuart Binny, Axar Patel, R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni and Mohit Sharma.
England: Eoin Morgan (capt.), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Joe Root, James Taylor, James Tredwell and Chris Woakes.
Match starts at 8.50 a.m. IST.
