India looks to clear middle-order muddle

A win in the decider will give Kohli’s men their 10th successive series triumph

Total commitment: M.S. Dhoni prepares for a nets session at Headingley on Monday.

Its middle-order frailties laid bare in the previous match, India will be aiming to plug the loopholes in Tuesday’s deciding third and final One-Day International against England, where a win will fetch Virat Kohli’s men their 10th successive series triumph.

Victory in London confirmed England’s spot as the No. 1 ODI side in the ICC Rankings. A win for India at Headlingley will only help close the gap.

The Men in Blue have been on a high-flying streak.

Going as far back as January 2016, when it last lost 4-1 in Australia, India has won every bilateral ODI series since, beating Zimbabwe, New Zealand (twice), England, West Indies, Sri Lanka (twice), Australia and South Africa, both home and away.

England has been found to be a sterner prospect in ODIs than T20Is as the Lord’s victory underlined.

Glaring weaknesses

In turn, it also highlighted India’s glaring weaknesses in the 50-over format, which are shielded to a certain degree in T20s.

While India’s spinners were in contention throughout, the pace attack lacked penetration, particularly in the death overs, underlining India’s dependence on Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah.

Bhuvneshwar did bowl in the nets at Lord’s before the second ODI. But it remains to be seen if he will be included in the side for this decider ahead of Siddarth Kaul or Umesh Yadav.

His continued absence will mean that India has a long tail, putting more responsibility on the top and middle-order.

M.S. Dhoni is over-burdened with the gaping hole at No. 4, where India is struggling to find a solution to its revolving door conundrum.

Lord’s was K.L. Rahul’s first big test at No. 4 since his return. But it came to nought literally. India has Dinesh Karthik and Shreyas Iyer on the bench.

England, meanwhile, has a chance to improve its record against India. But a victory will also approve plans ahead of the World Cup.

With Joe Root back among the runs and the remaining batsmen negotiating wrist spin to a greater degree, its only concern is Ben Stokes’ patchy form.

Eoin Morgan has insisted England values a series win over India far more highly than remaining as the world’s top-ranked ODI side.

The England skipper was in no doubt that a series win over India would be a bigger confidence boost than staying at the summit of the standings.

“Totally, totally. They are a really strong side. So to beat them in a series would be quite significant, confidence-wise it would be quite significant. This winner-takes-all game, it’s brilliant. Having a game like this is crucial for us.”

The teams (from) :

England : Eoin Morgan (Capt.), Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wk), Moeen Ali, Joe Root, Jake Ball, Liam Plunkett, Ben Stokes, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Mark Wood and James Vince.

India : Virat Kohli (Capt.), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, K.L. Rahul, M.S. Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shreyas Iyer, Siddarth Kaul, Axar Patel, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur and Bhuvneshwar Kumar .

Match starts at: 5 p.m. IST.