By Ashis Ray, IANS
Birmingham : With the series score between India and England 1-1, a crucial, potentially momentum generating one-day international is on the cards in this second biggest city in the English West Midlands with a significant number of immigrants from Punjab.
The form book suggests, England have so far played the better cricket. They outgunned India in the first encounter by 104 runs and fell short by only nine runs in targeting 329 for seven in the second. There is buoyancy in the English camp even without the big guns Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff firing, although the former has looked threatening and the Lancastrian’s pace and bounce has troubled the Indians.
But the injury-prone Flintoff has an inflamed right knee and swing bowler Jon Lewis has been summoned as cover. Ryan Sidebottom, originally in the squad, is out of consideration until after Monday’s match.
England might not retain an all pace attack after Paul Collingwood was fined 50 percent of his match fees and the rest of players 15 percent for overrunning their allotted bowling time by 40 minutes in the last match. In any case, a re-inclusion of Monty Panesar should clock up a faster over rate, lend variety to the attack and will certainly be popular with the battalion of English supporters known as the “Barmy Army”.
Most British Sikhs at India-England matches appear to fail the “Tebbit Test” of loyalty to their adopted country and extend their support to India, but Birmingham, not far from Panesar’s hometown of Northampton, could be an interesting test.
Zaheer Khan is said to have got rid of his virus and therefore either Ajit Agarkar or Munaf Patel is likely to make way for him. It would be surprising if India abandoned their five-bowler formula, without which they may not have defended their score at Bristol. And as the batting revealed, seven specialists will rarely accomplish what six cannot.
India’s quandary, of course, is that those who can decently bat or bowl are sometimes not the best of fielders. Movement in the air – only to be expected in England – has befuddled Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his wicket keeping has simply not coped with this challenge. Bristol was, in fact, a grand opportunity for him to catch up with Jack Russell. One wonders if the Jharkhandi, even if briefly, spoke to the last great Englishman with the gloves.
Unlike the first two matches, the next is a day meeting. Thus, factors like evening dew on the pitch or a wet ball are not in the reckoning. But conditions could be cool with perhaps a cloud cover. And India must win it so as not to lose the slight initiative gained in the previous game. Indeed, India beat England here in the 1999 World Cup.