The second ODI between England and India starts on Friday at the County Ground, Bristol on Friday. England will be on a high after their convincing win in the first one dayer and will be hoping to continue their success.
India have played two games in this ground and have won both of them. This ground has been particularly favourable to one Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, who scored centuries on both occasions. I am sure the Indian fans will be looking for a repeat performance from him hoping that this would be century No. 42 for him.
I would like to see a century from him too, but it would be better to see a combined team effort with every player pulling his weight. Saurav Ganguly has scored well since his comeback and a quick knock from him during the early power plays will give India a good start. Gambhir has to give way for Uthappa in this match. Even if Gambhir plays, I hope he does not come in at No. 3. A more conventional Dravid or Yuvraj would be a better choice. If we need to mix it up a little bit, then we could even send Dhoni in at No. 3. Apart from shuffling the batting order, these are the other changes India should consider:
- Uthappa for Gambhir: This has to happen in my opinion. I wouldn’t even mind Uthappa opening the batting with Ganguly, while Tendulkar comes in at No. 3
- Powar for Chawla: There is not much to pick from either Chawla or Powar. Chawla is probably a better batsman and fielder than Powar, but Powar is probably a better one day bowler.
- Munaf for one of the fast bowlers: Considering that there are 7 One Day games to be played, the fast bowlers will have to be rotated at some stage. Why not now? Maybe Agarkar could sit out.
- Munaf or Powar for Gambhir: Playing Munaf or Powar for Gambhir would mean we go with 5 bowlers and although I’ve not been a huge fan of this in the past, it is certainly an option. The Bristol wicket is also supposed to be a bit slow , and if this is indeed the case then Powar gets the nod.
So, here are a couple of team combinations :
Ganguly, Tendulkar, Yuvraj, Dravid, Dhoni, Karthik, Chawla, Powar, Zaheer, Agarkar, Munaf
or
Uthappa, Ganguly, Tendulkar, Yuvraj, Dravid, Dhoni, Karthik, Powar, Zaheer, RP Singh, Munaf
-Mahesh-
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The changes suggested in the team would be logical taking into account their primary strengths, but don’t the suggested selections do away with decent fielding as an option for India? That too when most commentators appeared to believe that India had already conceded more than they could score in the first match through their fielding efforts (or non-efforts)?
A run saved is a run scored seems to a dictum followed by many countries including England, New Zealand, South Africa of course and certainly Australia. Bangladesh too seems to set great store by it these days in the short version of the game.
I’d go with the same team as the first ODI, but I might consider playing Dinesh Kaarthik as an opener instead of Sachin.
Yuvraj ahead of Sachin if Ganguly/Gambhir get out to maintain the left-right and take him away from decent spin, which we all know Yuvraj hasn’t come to grips with yet.
Agarkar and Piyush deserve another chance…they’ve just landed in England. However, I agree Chawla has plenty to improve upon, most notably, the abrupt end to his action without a complete follow through which robs him of the essential pivot that lends a leggie extra rip, loop, and drift.
Somehow, ever since his breakthrough performance in the Challengers, no one who could suggest such obvious observations, did so to him. He might want to study some videos of Shane Warne closely in his spare time.
Don’t you think it’s time that Robin Sharma gets a go? I mean, it is not as if any of Gambhir, Uthappa or Karthik have a far greater call on a spot than him. If not at Bristol, at least in the 3rd match.
Soulberry: Tendulkar cannot come at number 4! He has to open or come one down. There are still not too many batsmen in the team who are better than Sachin at making use of the Power Plays.
It was a joy to watch young Chawla bowl. The prize wickets he got- they were sheer magic
John – Do you mean Rohit Sharma? Crossing Rohit Sharma with Robin Uthappa would give Robin Sharma 🙂 – a much better prospect for India. He could even bowl a few overs 😉
On a serious note: I think Rohit Sharma is definitely an option, but I am not sure whether you can play him ahead of Karthik or Uthappa. At least, not yet anyway…