By CricketCountry Staff
England captain Alastair Cook has won the toss in the last match and decided to field first. This match will see Rahul Dravid play for the last time in ODIs.
Published: Sep 16, 2011, 06:29 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 16, 2011, 06:29 PM (IST)
Indian team would be keen to get at least a consolation win on what has been a massively disappointing series. © Getty Images
By CricketCountry Staff
Cardiff: Sep 16, 2011
England captain Alastair Cook has won the toss in the last match and decided to field first. This match will see Rahul Dravid play for the last time in ODIs.
Indian team will be determined to win the final One-Day International (ODI) against England to not the only end what has been a nightmarish tour but also team would want to ensure a fitting farewell to veteran Rahul Dravid, who plays his final ODI on Friday.
Dhoni has a difficult choice to make on the team selection as he can either look for a win or test the mettle of his reserves.
If a solitary win from a horrendous tour is his motivation, it’s unlikely he would give better performers of the side, men like Suresh Raina, Praveen Kumar and even himself a break.
If the choice is to view the men for tomorrow, then medium-pacers Varun Aaron and Vinay Kumar and batsmen such as Manoj Tiwary and Subramaniam Badrinath should be on the starting block.
Despite the series loss, India have run England close in the one-day series which is commendable given eight of their World Cup stars were missing due to injuries.
Openers Parthiv Patel and Ajinkya Rahane have been good against the new ball and Raina and Dhoni himself have been pillars of strength in the middle order.
Given how injuries have hurt India on this tour, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to blood youngsters and mark their performance for future references.
The match was delayed by due to rains by 30 minutes.
India: Parthiv Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (c &wk) , Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, RP Singh
England: Alastair Cook (c), Craig Kieswetter (wk), Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Jonathan Bairstow, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Jade Dernbach, Steve Finn
Catch the Live Score of final ODI here
