Preview: Nehra likely to come in for Sreesanth

By Jamie Alter

 

India go into the match as favourites, given their outrageous batting order. Little needs to be said on that count. Given Shantakumaran Sreesanth’s horrendous showing in Dhaka, it is foreseeable that he will make way for Ashish Nehra, who has been the leader of the attack over the past 18 months.

By Jamie Alter

 

Bangalore: Feb 27, 2011

 

A lot has happened since India’s game against Bangladesh in Dhaka last Saturday. The website of the World Cup’s official ticketing partner crashed, the tournament director announced that just 4,000 tickets would be available for the final in Mumbai, laathi-wielding policemen in Bangalore clashed with fans trying to get tickets for Sunday’s showdown against England, and Virender Sehwag got himself into an injury scare. From the team’s perspective, let’s hope they only worried about the last on that list of woes.

 

On Saturday, Sehwag was one of the first to take strike at the nets at the National Cricket Academy, but his batting session was cut short when a rising delivery from a local fast bowler hit him on the left rib cage. He was taken inside immediately, but fortunately for India, nothing serious was found. Sehwag is expected to be fit against England.

 

If he does play, he can expect to be tested by England’s bowlers. Sehwag, at the start of his 175 in Dhaka, was bowled a series of short-pitched delivers by Bangladesh’s new-ball pair and repeatedly ducked under them, bowled with harmless pace as they were. But it won’t be as easy against England. Andrew Strauss would have noticed Sehwag’s technique and should give full license to Stuart Broad to bounce out Sehwag. It could prove to be a testing passage of play, if not a main theme tomorrow in Bangalore.

 

India go into the match as favourites, given their outrageous batting order. Little needs to be said on that count. Given Shantakumaran Sreesanth’s horrendous showing in Dhaka, it is foreseeable that he will make way for Ashish Nehra, who has been the leader of the attack over the past 18 months. India won the Asia Cup when Nehra spearheaded the attack, and the left-armer was the most successful India bowler in 2010.  Some would argue that there is a case for India to include Piyush Chawla at the venue where he hurt Australia in the warm-up game with four wickets. But that would mean dropping a pace bowler, and India don’t have that luxury.

 

Critics pounced on England’s shabby performance in the field against Netherlands, but it was a bad day for a side that has prided itself on its catching and fielding. What was more worrisome was the fact that England failed to bowl out Netherlands, an Associate nation. Such a performance won’t win them anything against India, who whitewashed England in India two years ago.

 

This England side has taken all ten wickets in an ODI in only seven of their last 20 matches. England’s seamers aren’t expected to threaten many line-ups on placid Indian pitches, but even so their bowling was poor last Tuesday. James Anderson had a forgettable day and the fact that Paul Collingwood was relied on so heavily as the fourth seamer spoke of the lack of depth. India would have torn apart that bowling attack.

 

There is a strong case for Michael Yardy to be included as the second spinner. Not a flashy cricketer by any count, Yardy is a handy spinner on subcontinent tracks and his ability to tie down batsmen allows Graeme Swann to attack and try and pick wickets. England could drop Ravi Bopara to accommodate Yardy; an England attack with two front-line slow bowlers makes more sense than relying on Kevin Pietersen and his hit-me brand of spin.

 

A deluge of rain has rendered England unable to practice their fielding at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Friday, and the forecast isn’t all that sunny for game day.

Teams:

 

India (probable): Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (c and wk), Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel and Ashish Nehra.

 

England (probable): Andrew Strauss (c), Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Matt Prior (wk), Ravi Bopara/Michael Yardy, Tim Bresnan,  Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann and James Anderson.

Umpires: Billy Bowden (New Zealand) and Marais Erasmus (South Africa).

 

Time: 14.30 local (09.00 GMT).

 

(Jamie Alter is a freelance cricket writer, having worked at ESPNcricinfo and All Sports Magazine. His first book, The History of World Cup Cricket, is out now)

 

Pictures © Getty Images

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