Buoyant India to take on scratchy England

PTI

Bangalore, 27 February 2011: England will have to contend with some explosive batting and a vociferous home crowd when it takes on World Cup favorite and co-host India in a much-awaited Group B match on Sunday.

 

India, which began the tournament with a comprehensive 87-run victory over Bangladesh in Dhaka, plays their first match on home soil at the Chinnaswamy Stadium with all eyes on its famed batting lineup.

 

The victory over fellow co-host Bangladesh, seen as revenge for a costly defeat in the last World Cup, came after emphatic wins over defending champion Australia and New Zealand in practice games. England also won their two practice games against Canada and Pakistan before starting with an unconvincing six-wicket victory over the Netherlands.

 

England beat the mainly-amateur Dutch side with only eight balls to spare, after conceding 292 runs to the unfancied side. Pace bowler Stuart Broad said on Friday the Twenty20 world champion would have to bowl and field better in future matches if it hoped perform well.

 

 

"We bowled too many short balls, especially with the new ball," said Broad. "Our fielding was also bad, but I won’t say that is a worry because we are a good fielding side."

 

England, which lost 6-1 to Australia in their recent one-day series, is up against the likes of big-hitting batsmen Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan.

 

Asked what plans England had for a batsman like Sehwag, whose 175 against Bangladesh overshadowed a creditable 100 not out by Virat Kohli, Broad said the aim was to bowl spot on.

 

"Sehwag is an amazing batsman who has started the World Cup in spectacular fashion. We will try to bowl in areas where he is not too strong and have certain plans for other batsmen," he said.

 

Broad felt the Indian batsmen needed to be surprised. "On unhelpful pitches, you have to be unpredictable. But we are not going to bowl too many bouncers, probably only as many as we would to Australia or South Africa," said Broad, who was looking forward to playing in front of a full house.

 

"We have played here before. It will be an electric atmosphere. We are going to get pumped up by the crowd, but will have to keep emotions in check," said Broad.

 

England captain Andrew Strauss top scored with 88 against the Netherlands, but it eventually took a 20-ball cameo of 30 runs by Ravi Bopara that ensured a win after some wayward bowling.

 

India, which rattled up 370-4 against Bangladesh, will also have to tighten its bowling. Pace bowler Shantakumaran Sreesanth was unimpressive against Bangladesh and India is not sure whether Ashish Nehra will be able to replace him as he is still recovering from a sore back.

 

India also had a minor worry as Sehwag was hit on the ribs during a practice session on Friday. He is expected to be fit, as is Yuvraj Singh, who was hit by a Sreesanth beamer during nets on Thursday.

 

India skipper Dhoni has not been too concerned about injuries coming into the tournament because he has several options in both batting and bowling.

 

"It is good for the team that so many players are fighting for places in the team," said Dhoni, who has had to keep out the dependable Suresh Raina from the playing XI.

 

Probables:

 

India: Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (Capt), Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla/Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel

 

Engalnd: Andrew Strauss (Capt), Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Ravi Bopara, Matt Prior, Graeme Swann, Michael Yardy, Stuart Broad, James Anderson