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IND vs ENG: Coronation over for Virat Kohli, battle begins

Ushering in new era with Kohli as full-time captain, India take on England in first of three ODIs today

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Former India captain MS Dhoni (left) and current skipper Virat Kohli react during training on the eve of the first ODI against England in Pune on Saturday
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In the only ODI played at the MCA Stadium in the outskirts of Pune, India lost to Australia in 2013-14. The last time the Men in Blue turned up at this venue was the low-scoring T20I against Sri Lanka last February, when the medium-pace trio of Kasun Rajitha, Dasun Chanaka and Dushmantha Chanaka blew the hosts away.

However, with the change of guard in Indian cricket, all those bad memories are set to be wiped away as India, under full-time captain Virat Kohli, take on a rejuvenated England in the first of three ODIs here on Sunday.
It is natural to expect India to continue with the winning momentum they have gained in the Tests, thrashing England 4-0 over the last two months. But it will not be that easy for Kohli and his men as they are up against an Eoin Morgan-led side that is completely different. That's not in terms of the personnel – nine of the Test players are in this ODI squad – but in the way they approach the limited-overs, playing explosive cricket quite naturally.

But Kohli has all the bases covered so much so that in the absence of the injured Rohit Sharma, they have brought back the experienced Yuvraj Singh to lend balance to the middle-order that was all along being manned by one man, MS Dhoni. Bringing back Yuvraj after a three-year absence from ODIs means that Kohli has to play him straightaway while also feeding off the momentum given by Dhoni at No. 4.
It may seem a backward step in bringing a 35-year-old Yuvraj into the ODIs. But in allowing Dhoni to play with freedom higher up the order and Kohli also wanting to take the bulk of responsibility upon himself, Yuvraj may seem the right man for the slot that Dhoni was holding until he was the captain.

Also, with the Champions Trophy in June, Kohli has only this series to identify the right combination and balance that can help India defend the crown. For, India break for Tests – one against Bangladesh and four against Australia – and then IPL before the June 1-17 tournament in England.
One of the combinations that Kohli has to identify is his two openers. KL Rahul is a natural choice at the top, coming off a 199 in the last Test in Chennai. The question is who among Ajinkya Rahane or Shikhar Dhawan will open with Rahul.

Both Dhawan and Rahane scored fifties in the warm-up games earlier this week against England. The latter opened in the last ODI series that India played against New Zealand as Dhawan was injured. Barring two innings in which his strike rate was above 81, Rahane scored at almost a run off every two deliveries. This may go against him as Kohli has greater faith in Dhawan, who though has not been in peak form of late but has a better ODI record than Rahane.
The southpaw is known to destroy the opposition attack, changing the dimension of the game singlehandedly.

"It is better to leave a guy like Shikhar to do his own planning and thinking," Kohli said on the match eve on Saturday. "He's so instinctive, once he gets going, he finds more options than anyone else. Guys have struggled to bowl to him when he's in full flow. In ODIs, he possesses lot of quality and ability to set up the game for the other batsmen. He bats long as well. He has a lot of positives, that's what we always back Shikhar."
Kohli will also expect his spin twins Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to continue troubling the visitors. But this being the one-dayers with run feast on the cards, the spinners will not be faulted for giving away runs.

LIKELY 11

India: Virat Kohli (C), KL Rahul, S Dhawan, MS Dhoni (WK), M Pandey, Yuvraj Singh, H Pandya, R Ashwin, R Jadeja, J Bumrah, U Yadav. (Standbys: A Rahane, K Jadhav, B Kumar, A Mishra)

England: J Roy, A Hales, J Root, E Morgan (C), J Buttler (WK), B Stokes, C Woakes, M Ali, A Rashid, D Willey, L Plunkett. (Standbys: J Bairstow, S Billings, J Ball, L Dawson)

DID YOU KNOW?

In the only ODI hosted by the MCA Stadium in Pune, India went down to Australia by 72 runs in October 2013. Virat Kohli (61) was the hosts' highest scorer in that game

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