India was dealt a blow ahead of the third one-dayer against England on Saturday as opener Rohit Sharma was ruled out of the remainder of the tour with a broken finger.
Murali Vijay, who did his cause no harm with a good performance in the Test series, has been named as Rohit’s replacement.
Suresh Raina, who made his first century outside the sub-continent in the second game at Cardiff, will look to carry on in the same vein while Ravindra Jadeja, who was the pick of the bowlers, will be keen to come good again.
Big worry The form of Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli has, however, been a major concern. In New Zealand, the former was dropped from the team during the ODI series and the latter opened the innings. With both of them struggling to find their feet, the opener’s slot is a major worry for Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Fortunately, for the Indian captain, the bowling attack has delivered the goods. To a certain extent, the bowling chinks were hidden by the friendly conditions at Cardiff and it will be interesting to watch how the bowlers cope on the batsmen-friendly pitch at Trent Bridge.
The bowling department is likely to remain unchanged, meaning Umesh Yadav will have to wait longer for an opportunity.
The massive loss in the previous game would have hurt England’s morale. Alex Hales and Chris Woakes were the two positives from that game, as the rest of the players failed to put up a fight.
The team, missing the services of Stuart Broad, will not be too eager to play two spinners given the Indian batsmen’s liking for the slow variety. Though it wouldn’t be a bad idea to bring in Steve Finn for the off-colour Chris Jordan, England will once again look to James Anderson for inspiration.
The fast bowler, returning to the venue of the ‘pushgate’ scandal, will be all fired up to torment the Indians the way he did during the Test series.
The teams (from): India: M.S. Dhoni (capt.), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson, R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Karn Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Shami, Dhawal Kulkarni, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
England: Alastair Cook (capt.), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Jos Buttler, Steve Finn, Harry Gurney, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Eoin Morgan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, James Tredwell, and Chris Woakes.
Match starts at 3 p.m. (IST).