No. 1 England in India’s way
Kohli & Co. face hosts in decider with eye on 10th successive series win
Leeds, July 16: Their middleorder frailties laid bare in the previous match, India would be aiming to plug the loopholes in Tuesday’s deciding third and final ODI against England, where a win would fetch Virat Kohli’s men their 10th successive series triumph.
Smarting from their 86run loss at the Lord’s after winning the first game in Nottingham by eight wickets, India have their task cut out.
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 and hand them the bragging rights before the Test series begins on August 1.
India had previously won the T20I series 2- 1.
England have been found out to be a sterner prospect in ODIs than T20Is as their Lord’s victory underlined.
In turn, it also highlighted India’s glaring weaknesses in the 50- over format, which are shielded to a certain degree in T20 cricket.
While India’s spinners were in contention throughout, the pace attack lacked penetration, particularly in death overs. This underlines India’s dependence on Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah. Kumar is a huge miss for India in this ODI series and there is no official word on his fitness or availability yet.
He did bowl in the nets at Lord’s before the second ODI and is on path to recovery. But it remains to be seen if he will be included in the side for this decider ahead of Siddharth Kaul or Umesh Yadav.
While M. S. Dhoni has the backing of both Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri, it underlines India’s dependence on the top- order trio of Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma.
Meanwhile, England opener Jason Roy will have a fitness test before play on Tuesday to see if he can take part in the third ODI.
‘ INDIA SERIES WIN ABOVE NO. 1 RANKING’
Eoin Morgan has insisted England value a series win over India far more highly than remaining as the world’s top- ranked ODI side. The 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,” he said. “They are a really strong side, like you’ve seen at times today ( Saturday) and particularly at Trent Bridge ( where India won the first ODI by eight wickets). So to beat them in a series would be quite significant, confidence- wise it would be quite significant.” —