India to try out young guns, England to play for pride

Tapan Mohanta

Cuttack, Nov 25 (PTI) With the series already in their
pocket, India will now aim for a 7-0 whitewash in the one-day
cricket series against England as they go into the fifth game
here in south-western state of Orissa Wednesday with the
intention of giving some of the bench players the chance to
prove their worth.

The hosts have taken an unassailable 4-0 lead but
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's bravehearts are not likely to show any
mercy on the visitors in the day-night contest at the Barabati
stadium.

Outplayed, outpaced and out-thought, England ran for
covers in all the four matches they lost though they were a
trifle unlucky when Duckworth and Lewis method favoured the
hosts twice.

England will play to salvage some pride, trying to start
it afresh here while for India it will be time for some
experiments as they plan to give an opportunity to the reserve
players, who have not played a single match yet.

Delhi's Virat Kohli is expected to get a berth in the
playing eleven, having played his last One Day International
at Dambulla in Sri Lanka series.

Replaced with Rudra Pratap Singh, Irfan Pathan is also
tipped for a comeback while Pragyan Ojha will be relishing at
the prospect of getting a call to bowl his left-arm spin
against the English batsmen on his home ground.

With seven victories in their last eight one-dayers --
three against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka and four against the
visitors, Dhoni has done nothing wrong so far.

Enjoying a success percentage of 57.50 -- the best among
Indians who have captained in minimum of 40 ODIs -- both luck
and pluck have been on Dhoni's side.

Right from the first ODI on the batting-friendly wicket
of Madhavrao Scindia ground in Rajkot where the Indian
top-order, powered by an unbeaten 138 by Yuvraj Singh,
deflated the hapless English attack, the hosts have outdone
Pietersen and his men in every department.

At Indore too, India's batting ruled the roost recovering
from an early shudder with Yuvraj Singh turning out to be
England's nemesis, scoring his century No. 2 on the trot.

Failed to pace up with the required run-rate, England
batting again collapsed though their middle order this time
proved to be little more defiant.

With elements taking the match away from England at
Green Park, the Kanpur memories in the third ODI still gives
a jarring effect to Pietersen where his team was scuppered by
bad light.

And at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore where India
sealed the series, Pietersen was out-thought by Dhoni and
company as the English captain's muddled thinking looked
exposed.

Sticking to their rather sluggish pair of Bopara and
Bell, and sending the powerful Flintoff at No. 4, England yet
again failed to get a good start, even when the match demanded
a Twenty20 style approach.

The over reliance on Andrew Flintoff has gone the other
way, as the former England captain, who led the side during
their tour two years ago, looks a pale shadow of himself.

Flintoff might be the hero with an average of 187 in
their 4-0 clean sweep over South Africa very recently, but the
Lancashire allrounder has failed to achieve peak form,
averaging 28.50 from his four innings.

Having started the series on a negative note -- losing
out their tour match to Mumbai Cricket Association just
before the series began -- England's implausible claims that
their Stanford stint was to prepare for the gruelling India
tour was punctured very early when their side was skittled out
for 98.

Their current bashing is a reminder of England's last
series in India two years ago when the seven-match series was
won by India with a 5-1 margin after Guwahati one-dayer was
abandoned without a ball being bowled.

However, it remains to be seen whether England makes a
comeback at their happy-hunting Barabati Stadium where the
visitors enjoy a 3-1 win-loss statistics.

The newly-laid turf last hosted NKP Salve Challengers
Trophy which saw low bounce with captains of the three sides,
had rued the slow and low track.

There's a tinge of green on the 22-yard strip but the
worrying factor for the day-night encounter in the mild cold
month of November will be dew, which might trouble bowlers to
for a better grip.

In any case, curator Pankaj Patnaik suggests Dhoni to
bat first, winning the toss.

"It will be a sporting wicket favouring the batsmen and a
target of 260 would make the match a competitive."

He further assured that unlike Challenger batsmen will
enjoy the bounce this time around.