Mark Wood hopes England can deny Kuldeep Yadav early wickets

It’s all square leading into the final one-day international of the three-match series, exactly as it was in the three-match Twenty20 International series earlier in the tour, with all to play for at Headingley on Tuesday, 17 July.

The first ODI went the way of the Indians, with Kuldeep Yadav striking six times to stop England at 268. Chasing it down was no problem for India once Rohit Sharma slammed a 114-ball 137*. It only took India 40.1 overs to complete the job. But England hit back brilliantly in the second game, Joe Root’s 113 taking them to 322/7 and India then only getting to 236 in reply.

Now, in the decider, England will try and create the feel of a tournament knockout game, according to Mark Wood, the England paceman, who also said that despite the difference in formats, winning the ODI series would help England in the upcoming five-Test series.

“I think for the Test-match side of things, it is great to get certain people out or get runs against them. But it is more of impact for the World Cup,” said Wood. “If we can use this game as a semi-final, a must-win with the pressure on, we can learn what we are doing wrong if we don't win or what we are doing right if we do win.

“Over the past year, we have dealt with these situations well and hopefully we can carry on that trend tomorrow.”

Both during the T20I series and then the ODIs, Kuldeep Yadav has been a thorn in the England side. In fact, even before reaching England, Yadav had signaled his intent by returning 4/21 and 3/16 in the T20Is against Ireland, and he has since picked up 14 wickets in four limited-overs matches.

In the second ODI, Root’s batting against Yadav was a huge positive for England, and has added to their confidence.“It's definitely a plus point for our players to bat well against him. I know he still took wickets (3/68), but we managed to get some runs against him and put him under a little bit of pressure,” said Wood.

“I think the main thing is he keeps getting wickets in his first over. So, I think that's the key going into this game, that if he gets a wicket early, his confidence is up again. If we can try to nullify that wicket-taking option that he's got straight away, then hopefully we can shift the momentum against him to us.”