India v England, 3rd ODI, Kolkata – Preview
India has won the three-match One-Day International series against England 2-0. But, as the teams go into the final ODI at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, the match will be more than dead rubber for a few players in both sides.
There are youngsters looking to make an impression and out-of-form seniors hoping to prove a point, all jostling for a spot in a packed line-up ahead of the 2017 Champions Trophy in England.
The first two matches were pulsating encounters with at least 350 scored in each innings. In the first ODI in Cuttack, centuries by Virat Kohli and Kedar Jadhav helped India overhaul England’s 350 for 7; in the second, England fell 15 short after hundreds from Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni powered India to 381 for 6.
Thus, in the final ODI on Sunday (January 22), there is little chance of either side turning up with anything less than full intensity.
This will be India’s last ODI ahead of the Champions Trophy in June, and the side will hope to tick off most boxes before the big-ticket tournament. Eoin Morgan’s men, meanwhile, will want to avoid going down 3-0 and instead build some momentum going into the three-match Twenty20 International series that follows.
The teams will have to do it with some personnel changes, however.
England will be without Alex Hales, the opener, who was ruled out of the tour due to a fractured hand. Hales, who scored 9 and 14 in the first two matches, sustained the injury while attempting a catch in the outfield last match.
An experienced Jonny Bairstow could be in the running to break into the XI, but England might prefer Sam Billings, considering he opened in the last of his six ODIs, against Bangladesh in October 2016 when Jason Roy was injured, and made a career-best 62. He also made his case with a match-winning 93 in England's first warm-up match against India A in Mumbai earlier this month.
Shikhar Dhawan, who has scores of 1 and 11, was also under an injury cloud. The India opener visited a hospital in Kolkata to address concern related to his left thumb, which he injured during the second Test against New Zealand, coincidentally at the same venue. Yet, he went through the drills during the optional practice on Saturday, and even had Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah bowl to him in the nets.
With the series in the bag and the middle order firing, an unsettled opening pair is India’s big concern. Ajinkya Rahane could be an option if Dhawan is not match-fit on Sunday.
Kohli will also want his bowlers to make sure they don’t let the game drift after good starts. Ravindra Jadeja is the only bowler who has maintained an economy of five runs per over or less so far in the series. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, brought in in Cuttack ahead of Umesh Yadav, was impressive in the death.
England is certainly a better ODI side than the scoreline suggests, and will want to close out games from good positions, something they let slip in both games so far. With the batsmen posting competitive totals, the side will want its bowlers, who had India 63 for 4 and 25 for 3 in the first two games, lead the charge.
“We want to finish the series on a high,” said England’s Jason Roy. “Every game from now on till the Champions Trophy is going to be stepping blocks for us going into that huge competition. We’ve got a huge amount of positives to take from the last few games. Although we got outplayed, we’ve put in some seriously good performances; we’ve scored 350 in the first game and 370 in the second and lost both of them. We got outdone by some individual performances that were outstanding.”
The trend of high scores could be affected by the relaid pitch at Eden Gardens, which is expected to provide good bounce and carry. A fair amount of live grass is expected to aid the seamers, and dew could have a significant impact in the second innings.
Squads:
India: Virat Kohli (captain), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav.
England: Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jonathan Bairstow, Jake Ball, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler (wk), Liam Dawson, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes.