England seek face-saving turnaround against India today

LUCKNOW, India, Oct 28 (AP): When the Cricket World Cup schedule was announced in July, India vs. England on Sunday was expected to be a marquee match.
It will be anything but.
England's poor showing at the World Cup so far has befuddled even its most ardent fans. One win from five games is the worst showing for a defending champion since 1999, when 1996 winners Sri Lanka won two out of five league games and failed to qualify for the next stage of that tournament.
England's only win so far came at Dharamsala - beating Bangladesh by 137 runs. It is ninth in the points' table with a minus 1.634 run-rate.
"I am not a mathematician but it is over now - with our net run-rate and too many teams who are going to take games off each other, we have to come to terms with that from now. We are (only) playing for a lot of pride," England coach Matthew Mott said after an eight-wicket loss to Sri Lanka.
Despite what Mott said, England is still mathematically alive. If it wins four games in a row and reaches 10 points, then depending on other results, it could still be in with a chance of making the semifinals.
Meanwhile, India has been flying high - the only unbeaten side with five wins in a row. It has beaten Australia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and New Zealand, accruing 10 points and a positive run-rate of 1.353. It is currently second on the table, after 5-1 South Africa - also on 10 points after it beat Pakistan in Chennai on Friday - took over first place with a better run-rate.
At this stage, there couldn't be a greater disparity between the teams. India has two big names in the top run-scorers' list - Virat Kohli with 354 runs, and Rohit Sharma with 311 runs, in five games. It also has two bowlers in the top wicket-takers' list - Jasprit Bumrah with 11 wickets and Kuldeep Yadav with eight wickets.
England's top scorer is Dawid Malan with 220 runs in five innings - 140 of them came against Bangladesh alone. Sam Curran - player of the tournament in the 2022 Twenty20 World Cup - has failed to make a mark and was dropped after three games.
"A lot of experienced guys who are fantastic cricketers - look at our dressing room. It is not a lack of talent. But this tournament hasn't gone the way we wanted to. It has been a huge disappointment," said England's Jos Buttler.
"We're all feeling the heat. But what can you do? We prepared the same, we've done things very similar to what you'd expect," Trescothick told reporters.
"Every practice we go through we're coming out the other side thinking we're in a good place and feeling quite right. It's just not quite worked then when we go into the games." Critics have targeted England's approach to the 50-over format after they won the crown in 2019. They played just 13 ODI matches in the build-up to their title defence. "Forgive me, I don't want to be blunt here, but we haven't lost faith in what it is," said Trescothick.
"We love playing any form of cricket, any form of the game that we play. And we were desperate to come here and try and win back-to-back 50 over competitions. So, we're still very much focused on all formats." He added: "I think nowadays the cricket structure is so busy, right? It's really busy. You've got to plan in Test matches, T20s, 50s. And we're always trying to get the balance right -- sometimes we do, sometimes we don't." Trescothick, a former left-hand batsman who played 76 Tests and 123 ODIs for England between 2000-2006, said the team is looking forward to playing India and make the occasion their own.
"I think playing against India in a World Cup in their own country is a special part of the game, you get these opportunities that come around - you know there'll be a big crowd, there'll be a wonderful occasion," he said.