After series of losses against Australia down-under and surviving near scare of loss from Netherlands in their first match, English team is raring to do well against India in their first high-profile match of the World Cup in Bengaluru on Sunday. All they injury hit bowlers are fit and ready to go after the Indian batting. England has already declared their strategy of bouncing the Indian batsmen and their bowlers are capable of doing that but the pitch of Chinnaswamy Stadium will allow them to do so is a big suspense.
In warm-up match between India and Australia, Chinnaswamy pitch turned a lot and created lot of problems for the Aussie batsmen and remember English batsmen are not known for playing the spin well. So interesting to see what kind of combination Englishmen will try in the match against India on Sunday. English team is missing Eoin Morgan very much because he is the one player who keeps the scoreboard rolling and very dangerous batsmen in later half of the innings. But Englishmen have some very capable batsmen in Pietersen, Tortt, Strauss and Bell who can win matches for the. Matt Prior is the very capable batsmen I really failed to understand why England opened with Pietersen. I believe England must open with Matt Prior because he can keep the scoreboard rolling and even he gets out cheaply there is no harm. We all saw how Pietersen struggled against Netherlands while opening the batting so its better that Pietersen bats down the order. Trott is the big hope for England in middle-order. He is most reliable batsmen and play the very important role of anchor.
If we talk about English bowling, Broad, Anderson and Bresnan makes good combination and will be supported by off-spinner Greame Swann. but I believe England must take chance with 2nd spinner in Bengaluru match and that will be surprise for the Indian team. Collingwood and Trott can play supporting bowler role very well so England have enough in their armoury as far as bowling is concerned. Only thing they require is little application from all the players and I feel if they play as a unit they can very well advance to the semis.
Indian team is full of confidence at the moment after their win over Bangladesh in opening match of the World Cup. Shewag , Kohli and Gambhir had good time in that match and looking good to score lot of runs in coming matches. But Sachin's failure in his last 3 ODIs is a bit of concern for Team India. Fomm of Yuvraj SIngh with the bat is also big worry. I think India have the team which suits to the sub-continent conditions but at times they falters at the key moments. India have variety in their bowling as well and they have lot of spinning option which is big advantage for Team India and MS Dhoni. I think India have to play sensibly against England and have to post huge total like they did against Bangladesh, if they want to win this encounter and gain some pyschological advantage for the coming matches.
India must play 2 spinners because English batsmen certainly struggle against the spin in Bengaluru. I believe trio of Harbhajan Sing, Piyush Chawla and Yuvraj Singh will do wonders if they get the same track on which they played against Australia in the warm-up game and restricted Aussies under 180. India's biggest problem is the fitness of its fast bowlers. Both Nehra and Zaheer are struggling with injuries and have to be fully fit ahead of the all important game against India. India will have the advantage of playing at home and crowd will be cheering them to do well.
Cracker of the contest is waiting for the cricket lovers on Sunday and cricket lovers across the country hoping to see close and exciting contest between these two teams.
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