India Will Look to Maintain Dominance

New Delhi: Buoyed by the resounding 126-run triumph in the opening game, India will seek to maintain their supremacy as they go into the second cricket one-dayer against England on Monday with the focus on grooming the young brigade.

The emphatic victory in Hyderabad will no doubt serve as a huge morale-booster for the team which failed to win a single international match during their recent nightmarish tour of England.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men have taken the first step in their redemption journey by taking a 1-0 lead in the five-match contest but will have to guard against complacency against the visitors who have vastly improved as an ODI team.

The hosts will seek to exploit the home conditions and it will be interesting to see how England, who had come here well in advance to get acclimatised to the conditions, respond to the challenge in what has been dubbed as the 'payback series'.

The Indians gave a good account of themselves in Hyderabad despite the injury-induced absence of a host of seniors, including Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan, and indications are that they may retain the winning combination.

With an out-of-form Harbhajan Singh dropped for the first two matches of the series, India have a rather inexperienced bowling attack with paceman Praveen Kumar being the most experienced.

The spin duo of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who scalped three wickets apiece in Hyderabad, will again have a big role to play at the Ferozeshah Kotla where the track was expected to assist the slow bowlers.

The presence of all-rounder Jadeja has provided balance to the team and has given Dhoni the luxury of an additional bowler.

Umesh Yadav, who was preferred ahead of Varun Aaron, in the first match, is not the most accurate of bowlers but can be dangerous if he gets his rhythm and certainly brings in a lot more pace to the bowling attack.

The heartening feature of India's batting in Hyderabad was the blistering knock by captain Dhoni, who showed glimpses of his powerplay of younger days.

With Gautam Gambhir returning to the team, the hosts have a decent batting line up with the likes of Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli, both of whom are regarded as highly-talented ODI players.

Ajinkya Rahane has also proved that he has the skills to succeed at the highest level and the young batsman will be keen to prove his worth after failing to get going in the first match. Parthiv Patel is also fully capable of scoring runs at a brisk pace.

Clearly, the pressure will be on England who have never really excelled in sub-continental conditions where the balls tend to keep low.

But this English team has shown a lot of character and is fully capable of bouncing back in the series as they have a host of quality batsmen and bowlers.

Captain Alastair Cook has urged his teammates to learn from the Hyderabad debacle and come harder at the Indians.

England have a good batting line up with stars such as Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott and Cook besides a clutch of talented youngsters and it appears unlikely that they will collapse in every match.

The toss will be vital considering the dew factor that may come into play in the day-night encounter at the Kotla. In case there is dew, the team bowling second may find it difficult to grip the ball.

Teams from

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wicketkeeper), Gautam Gambhir, Parthiv Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Varun Aaron, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, S Aravind, Rahul Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Praveen Kumar.

England: Alastair Cook (captain), Craig Kieswetter (wicketkeeper), Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Ravi Bopara, Jonathan Bairstow, Graeme Swann, Samit Patel, Tim Bresnan, Steven Finn, Stuart Meaker, Chris Woakes, Scott Borthwick, Jose Buttler, Alex Hales.

Pitch and conditions
The Feroz Shah Kotla stadium regained its international status in time for the World Cup after the ICC suspended the venue following the abandonment of the India-Sri Lanka ODI in December, 2009. The old wicket was a flat track full of runs, and while the new strip is not as lifeless, it is unlikely to give the bowlers much joy.

Stats and trivia

• England have played two ODIs in Delhi (it would have been three but the 2008 match was cancelled) and they have a 1-1 record. In 2006 they lost by 39 runs but in 2002 clung on for two-run victory which kept them alive in a series they would finish sharing.
• In his last four ODI innings, MS Dhoni has hit 284 runs for just once out which has lifted his average back over 50.

Match facts
Monday October 17, 2011 (day/night)
Start time 1430 local (0900 GMT)