Match facts – — Nov 17, 2008 Start time 9.00 am (0330 GMT)

Team news

There was uncertainty on Sunday over the fitness of two Indian players – Ishant Sharma and Yuvraj. Ishant injured his ankle during the Test series against Australia and missed the first ODI in Rajkot. Mahendra Singh Dhoni said the fast bowler would almost certainly miss Monday’s game because it would give him a period of five to seven days to recover. Yuvraj had trouble with his back during his century in Rajkot and, although a local doctor said there was no internal injury, his fitness will be assessed on the morning of the game. If Yuvraj is unavailable, Virat Kohli is likely to be his replacement.

India (probable): 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), 6 Rohit Sharma, 7 Yusuf Pathan, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 RP Singh, 11 Munaf Patel.

England (probable): 1 Matt Prior (wk), 2 Ian Bell, 3 Owais Shah, 4 Kevin Pietersen (capt), 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Paul Collingwood, 7 Ravi Bopara, 8 Samit Patel, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Ryan Sidebottom, 11 Steve Harmison.

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Form guide (last 5 ODIs, most recent last)

India WNWLW
England WWWNL

Watch out for

India’s opening partnership: The Rajkot match will be remembered for Yuvraj Singh’s astonishing strokeplay but the foundation for India’s victory was laid by their openers. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir were in excellent form during the Tests against Australia and they carried it into the first one-dayer. Both openers scored half-centuries and added 127 in 19.5 overs: a partnership full of big hits and terrific running between the wickets.

England’s big two, Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen. Flintoff finished with 1 for 67 in Rajkot but he had figures of 1 for 34 off eight overs before he was battered by Yuvraj. Flintoff was the only bowler to exercise control over the run-rate during the first half of the Indian innings. Although the contest had been decided by the time Pietersen began his innings, he was in excellent touch during his 63, off 56 balls, and particularly severe on India’s spinners, scoring 43 off 29 balls against them.

Pitch and conditions

Dhoni and Pietersen both wanted to bowl first in Rajkot and the Indian captain said losing the toss was a blessing. However, he indicated that batting first would be the way to go in Indore. “The wicket will not be like the one at Rajkot,” Dhoni said. “There will be wear and tear as the match progresses. It’s dry and it will become slow and it will be difficult to score.” Collingwood agreed, saying the pitch was flat and had some cracks and the boundaries were small. The curator, Samundar Singh Chauhan, however, was felt the toss wouldn’t be that significant. “You can see a score in excess of 300 being scored and maybe even being chased. The wicket is hard and will last 100 overs.”

Stats & Trivia

The India-England match in 2006 is the only one-dayer to have been played at the Maharani Usharaje Trust Cricket Ground. England set a target of 289 and India’s top four batsmen scored half-centuries to complete the run-chase with five balls to spare.

Dhoni averages 54.20 as captain in ODIs, ten runs more than his average when he wasn’t leading the team. Pietersen’s corresponding stats are 51 and 48.

Flintoff’s 34 wickets in 26 ODIs are the most for any England bowler against India.

Yuvraj has scored 942 runs in 24 matches against England at an average of 52. His career average is 37.

England scored only 63 runs during the first two Powerplays in Rajkot while India’s openers added 90 during the same period.

Quotes

“We just have to stop them. We need to be more aggressive. We want to hit India hard. The key is to take early wickets and put them under pressure. India is very much like any other team.”
Collingwood on what England need to put into practice.

“We are always wary of becoming complacent because we will be criticised for being overconfident if we lose. We are always focused on what needs to be done.”

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