New Delhi: By ending their 10-match win-less streak against England in the first one-dayer at Hyderabad, Team India once again exhibited their invincibility at home, to the dismay of the opposition. The depleted Team India, which is without the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma and Zaheer Khan, will go head to head in the second encounter at Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi hoping to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
India won the first match on a slow wicket thanks to some brilliant batting by skipper MS Dhoni who led from front and Suresh Raina. Dhoni scored a match-wining knock of 87 off just 70 deliveries as the hosts piled on an imposing total of 300/7 in their quota of fifty overs. Another bright spot in Indian team is the rise of Ravindra Jadeja who has improved vastly since the 2009 T20 World Cup. The left-hander scored a fighting 27 and took three important wickets and would once again be the one to look out for on the slow Kotla wicket.
Delhi lads Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli also got off to a decent start and the duo could be a real handful for the English if they keep on going their merry way. The two have enough experience to enthrall their home crowd if they find their feet in the middle. Gambhir and Kohli have been in great form in the Champions League T20 and will be hoping to set off some Diwali fireworks for all the fans worldwide. The team management will surely be going with Parthiv Patel and young Ajinkya Rahane who failed to make their mark in the first ODI, but possess enough quality in them to make a comeback. The Indian batting order looks formidable, and it will be a near impossible task for the England bowlers to dominate them in their own backyard.
The Indian spin bowling was brilliant in the first ODI, R Ashwin once again proved that he is the best man for the job after Harbhajan Singh. He, along with Jadeja, spun a web around the batsmen and forced them into errors which cost the English team dearly. The Delhi pitch will offer the same assistance to the spinners and the duo will once again hold the key on sluggish Kotla turf. Pacers Praveen Kumar and Umesh Yadav were right on the money and took three wickets between them and built the pressure early on in the innings. With the talented Varun Aaron and Rahul Sharma waiting in the wings, competition for places will be the order of the day, but the team's think tank is likely to go with the winning combination for the second ODI.
On the other hand England's bowling and batting was dismal in the first ODI. Apart from Grame Swann, the English bowlers were easily tackled by the strong Indian batting. Bresnan and co. were toothless in the death overs and were unable to make most of the early wickets. It was the same story in the batting department for England, as they were bundled out for just 174 inside fifty overs.
Craig Keiswetter, Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen failed to make any impact for the visitors. Skipper Alaistair Cook was the only key contributor with a well-made fifty but he also eventually perished trying to up the ante. The visitors will need something special from KP and Cook if they are to seriously pose a challenge for India in the second ODI. The English batsmen will have to pull up their socks if they want to take the fight to the opposition, or else the five-match series might fizzle out into a one-sided affair in favour of the hosts.
India won the first match on a slow wicket thanks to some brilliant batting by skipper MS Dhoni who led from front and Suresh Raina. Dhoni scored a match-wining knock of 87 off just 70 deliveries as the hosts piled on an imposing total of 300/7 in their quota of fifty overs. Another bright spot in Indian team is the rise of Ravindra Jadeja who has improved vastly since the 2009 T20 World Cup. The left-hander scored a fighting 27 and took three important wickets and would once again be the one to look out for on the slow Kotla wicket.
Delhi lads Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli also got off to a decent start and the duo could be a real handful for the English if they keep on going their merry way. The two have enough experience to enthrall their home crowd if they find their feet in the middle. Gambhir and Kohli have been in great form in the Champions League T20 and will be hoping to set off some Diwali fireworks for all the fans worldwide. The team management will surely be going with Parthiv Patel and young Ajinkya Rahane who failed to make their mark in the first ODI, but possess enough quality in them to make a comeback. The Indian batting order looks formidable, and it will be a near impossible task for the England bowlers to dominate them in their own backyard.
The Indian spin bowling was brilliant in the first ODI, R Ashwin once again proved that he is the best man for the job after Harbhajan Singh. He, along with Jadeja, spun a web around the batsmen and forced them into errors which cost the English team dearly. The Delhi pitch will offer the same assistance to the spinners and the duo will once again hold the key on sluggish Kotla turf. Pacers Praveen Kumar and Umesh Yadav were right on the money and took three wickets between them and built the pressure early on in the innings. With the talented Varun Aaron and Rahul Sharma waiting in the wings, competition for places will be the order of the day, but the team's think tank is likely to go with the winning combination for the second ODI.
On the other hand England's bowling and batting was dismal in the first ODI. Apart from Grame Swann, the English bowlers were easily tackled by the strong Indian batting. Bresnan and co. were toothless in the death overs and were unable to make most of the early wickets. It was the same story in the batting department for England, as they were bundled out for just 174 inside fifty overs.
Craig Keiswetter, Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen failed to make any impact for the visitors. Skipper Alaistair Cook was the only key contributor with a well-made fifty but he also eventually perished trying to up the ante. The visitors will need something special from KP and Cook if they are to seriously pose a challenge for India in the second ODI. The English batsmen will have to pull up their socks if they want to take the fight to the opposition, or else the five-match series might fizzle out into a one-sided affair in favour of the hosts.
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