Chawla In As India Opt to Bat Against England

Bangalore: Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat first against England in a high-voltage World Cup group-B league match at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Sunday.

Bad news for England as seamer Stuard Broad was ruled out of the World Cup clash against India after being confined to bed for two days.

On the other hand Piyush Chawla replaced S Sreesanth in India's playing XI, with Indian team going into the match with two specialist seamers and spinners.

A win will more or less guarantee India a place in the last eight stage with two victories from as many outings after having thrashed Bangladesh by a 87 runs in their opening match.

Even though England too stand in a similar position with a win from their only outing, going by the present form and track record in the World Cup, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men clearly hold an edge over their English rivals.

Riding on Virender Sehwag's explosive 175 and Virat Kohli's unbeaten 100, India avenged their 2007 shock loss to Bangladesh, by piling up 370 for four on the board and then restricted the hosts to 283 for nine to start their campaign on a rousing note.

Champion batsman Sachin Tendulkar, who in all probability is playing in his swansong World Cup, and Gautam Gambhir both got starts against Bangladesh but failed to capitalise on them.

Also, the fact that the famed Indian batting line-up had completely dominated the English attack in the Tests as well as ODIs during the latter's tour in 2008 will act as a confidence booster for the home team.

However, going by head-to-head record in the World Cup, there is little to separate the two sides with both winning three matches each against the other.

Overall, India have won 33 of their 59 World Cup matches (25 loss and one no result), while England recorded 37 wins (22 loss) from 60 matches.

Pace spearhead Zaheer Khan needs consistent support from the other end if India have to contain the opposition batsmen in the first 10 over and at the death stage.

Zaheer's new ball partner S Sreesanth came in for harsh treatment from the Bangladeshi batsmen as he went for 53 runs off his five overs, even though Munaf Patel gave a good account of himself with 4 for 48 from his 10 overs.

England, on the other hand, had reasons to worry about as they survived a close call against the Netherlands in the opening match.