Following their crushing 104-run defeat at The Rose Bowl, India have made two changes for the second match of the NatWest Series at Bristol as they aim to level the series.
Zaheer Khan has been ruled out with the flu, which has spread through the Indian camp, and is replaced by Munaf Patel, while they have also strengthened the bowling by naming offspinner Ramesh Powar in place of Gautham Gambhir.
Zaheer didn't even make it onto the field for India's warm-ups and four other players needed late fitness tests after picking up the flu. It isn't the first time on the tour that India have had illness problems: during the one-day series in Ireland in July they were so stretched they had to call up reinforcements from the Test squad and local leagues.
The situation isn't as bad this time, and the team looks better balanced with Powar offering Rahul Dravid another frontline bowling option.
The part-time bowlers - Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh - were expensive at The Rose Bowl and Dravid found it hard to put pressure on England in the middle overs. First, though, it will be the batsmen under the spotlight after Dravid won the toss and decided to bat.
England have made one change from the side that produced a near-perfect game Tuesday. Chris Tremlett comes in for Monty Panesar as England go for an all-out pace assault. India's batsmen struggled against the pace of James Anderson and Andrew Flintoff in the first match and Tremlett's inclusion means Paul Collingwood has plenty of attacking options.
For once the weather is playing ball with sunny skies and a mild breeze to greet the players.
However, with the floodlights again coming into use later, conditions may change as the match progresses. Thursday the groundsman said he expected the pitch to be excellent for batting with the team batting first aiming for a total of around 300.
India have played two previous ODIs on this ground, passing that mark on both occasions, while all four matches England have played here have been won by the side batting second. The stage is set for a fascinating day.
England : Alastair Cook, Matt Prior (wk), Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood (capt), Andrew Flintoff, Ravi Bopara, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Stuart Broad, Chris Tremlett and James Anderson
India : Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid (capt), Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Ramesh Powar, Piyush Chawla, Ajit Agarkar, Munaf Patel and RP Singh
— Cricinfo
Zaheer out as India bat first
FE Team | Published: August 25, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
Share if you like