With the Sri Lanka-Pakistan match yesterday and today’s India-England game, I guess the World Cup has started in the real sense.
With the Sri Lanka-Pakistan match yesterday and today’s India-England game, I guess the World Cup has started in the real sense. Today is the big day for both India and England to establish a psychological advantage that would come in handy during the remainder of the matches.
The loss to the Australians in the recent one-day series Down Under was a massive setback to England, who know that the Indians, given the home conditions, would be as difficult a side to beat as the Australians are in their own backyard.
India would surely start as favourites. Their record versus England when England toured India a couple of years ago has been exemplary. They would be enjoying huge local support and that would put pressure on the tourists.
India, however, must be looking forward to Yuvraj Singh to fire. He has a great record against the Englishmen.
He literally clobbered the English touring team a couple of years ago and was the highest run scorer in that one-day series. Unfortunately for him, he did not get the opportunity to bat in the last game versus Bangladesh. He surely is not in the best of form at present but I feel this is the right time for him to re-establish himself as the premier batsman in the one-day side.
After watching them bowl in the first match, the Indians will have to get into the groove as soon as possible. No doubt that they were a bit complacent after scoring 371 in the last game, but then there is no excuse, for it’s a huge event and even a slight slackness could cost them dearly.
On Indian soil, especially on wickets like the one at KSCA, I would be tempted to play the leggie Piyush Chawla. But, in that case one of the medium pacers will have to be dropped and India doesn’t have a bowler who could bowl one change. It’s a dilemma the Indian think tank will have to address or else just go in with the same playing eleven.
The writer is a former India captain and chairman of selectors.
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