ODI series: India aim to lay down marker in England
KEY MEN Chahal, Kuldeep will be crucial if India are to build on their Twenty20 series win against hosts
takes up the responsibility at No 4 will be crucial.
The most anticipated clash will be between India’s wrist spinners, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, and England’s dynamic batting line-up. In their last ODI series against South Africa, they shared 33 wickets in six matches. But the likes of Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, Alex Hales and Eoin Morgan will provide sterner test.
India have an even more formidable batting unit, led by Kohli, the most destructive batsman in the format. There’s no better reminder than his performances against South Africa earlier this year, where he set the world record for most runs in a bilateral ODI series, averaging 186 after hammering 558 runs with three centuries and a half-century.
The T20 games showed there will be little margin for error between these evenly-matched outfits. Whichever batsman is in will have to kick on and get the most out of it. A period of poor play, and there will be no recovery. Bowling is England’s weak link. The teams woke up to a grey sky on Tuesday but the sun shone by the time they arrived for training.
England pacers though will hope there is cloud cover on match day. Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid took 12 wickets apiece in the series against Australia, a record for a pair of England spinners in any ODI series. But the Indian bowling is better balanced and offers Kohli more variety.
Given the match-ups on offer, the stage is set for a mouthwatering clash.