Daijiworld Media Network - Sports

Kolkata, Jan 22: England will hope that the Eden Gardens ghost misses them, especially after what happened in the World T20 final. Ben Stokes in particular would want to have a good game at a ground where he was down in tears after Carlos Brathwaite hit those four successive sixes to give West Indies the cup. Those 15-20 extra runs have hurt Eoin Morgan and Co. badly and played a big part in them conceding the series. Alex Hales is ruled of the remainder of the tour and Sam Billings is expected to take his spot at the top. Having played in the IPL and got a feel of the Indian pitches to an extent, Billings will be raring to go.

If Kedar Jadhav and Virat Kohli stole the show in the first ODI, Indian fans rolled back years to witness another famous Yuvraj Singh-MS Dhoni partnership. What's more, Yuvraj, returning after a number of years, even smashed his highest ODI score. The one worrying sign for India though is that they were reduced to 63/4 and 25/3 in the first two ODIs. It's quite clear that the openers haven't been doing well. Can Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul get back amongst the runs today? We'll wait and watch.

706 runs in Pune, 741 runs in Cuttack. 'Can white-ball cricket be more kind to us?' the bowlers would ask. What do we have in store in Kolkata? This is a ground where Rohit Sharma made 264. So that tells you that runs are aplenty at the Eden Gardens and should this be a belter of a track, we are most-likely to have another high-scoring contest.

India have won the toss and have opted to field.

Virat Kohli: 'We are going to bowl first, I don't think the pitch will change much. It's always been a good chasing ground. It's very important to create good habits. Everyone is raring to go. Yes there has been dew, but not too early in the evening. It's a massive factor in the last 15 overs or so. Even if you chasing a big score, you can capitalise towards the end. One change for us, Ajinkya Rahane is playing in place of Shikhar Dhawan.'

Eoin Morgan: 'This is probably the most grass I have ever seen on an Eden Gardens pitch. We haven't played our complete game yet. Our batters have performed really well and the bowlers haven't quite hit the straps. Scoring 350 as a side in the first two games puts the batting unit in a good space. Two changes for us, Alex Hales has gone home with a broken finger and Joe Root has a niggle, Sam Billings and Jonny Bairstow are in.'

Teams:

India (Playing XI): Ajinkya Rahane, Lokesh Rahul, Virat Kohli(c), Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni(w), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah

England (Playing XI): Jason Roy, Sam Billings, Moeen Ali, Eoin Morgan(c), Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler(w), Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Liam Plunkett, Jake Ball, David Willey

Pitch Report: 'This is one of the better pitches at the Eden Gardens in recent times. There is a fair sprinkling of grass, the seam bowlers might be able to move the ball when the dew settles in. It will still be a good pitch to bat on. Because of the dew factor, yesterday it came around 5.30-6PM, you might be tempted to bat first,' reckons Sunil Gavaskar.

Preview by Prakash G

Even after scores of 350, 351, 381 and 366 in the two One-Day Internationals (ODIs) so far, the pertinent questions that India and England are left to ponder ahead of the third and final fixture relates to their batting. What more can batsmen do? What else can they offer? How much more can they stretch the boundaries of batsmanship in 50-overs cricket?

Ideally, a genuinely good bowling attack should still make a difference in the current ODI landscape, but given the insipidity of conditions, super fast outfields and short boundaries, the best of bowlers tend to get blunted. Even in a world where batsmen run the show, there seems to be room and demand for them to keep expanding their ever-growing repertoire of strokes.

England, in fact, have more to deal with. The last time they played at the highly-revered venue of Kolkata, the visitors missed the opportunity of getting their hands on an ICC trophy, finishing second-best to West Indies in the World T20 final. It's been nine months since that heartbreak and England return a much better limited-overs side, irrespective of their inferior tally in the ongoing series. The series is done and dusted but there is still a chance for England to get one over India on the ground that gave them much grief recently.

Nearly every England press conference has included a question regarding the tough decision of keeping a talented batsman like Sam Billings on the bench. Alex Hales's series-ending hand injury in Cuttack might just open up the door that Billings has been fiercely banging on for sometime now. Though there was no confirmation of Billings's inclusion, Jason Roy talked up the Kent batsman and the prospect of opening the innings with him.

The modern-day game may stress on the importance a flying start and frenzied end with the bat, but a long innings culminating into a century for a top-order batsman remains as invaluable as ever. Both India and England have fallen short on that front.

India have two wins to show for, but the openers have failed to leave a mark in either. Shikhar Dhawan (1 and 11) has struggled on return and KL Rahul (8 and 5) too has appeared scratchy, with 200-plus partnerships through the middle rescuing the team on both occasions. Sunday's dead rubber is the perfect pressure-free occasion for Dhawan and Rahul to shrug their shaky start off.

England are placed slightly better courtesy Roy, who has scored two half-centuries. Despite Hales's two forgettable outings with the bat before his injury, there will be quite a bit of expectation from the man who replaces him. Roy, too, conceded that he has let himself down by not consolidating on his strong starts.

What to expect: A hot day with temperature going up to 27 degrees in the morning and dipping to 12 degrees in the second half of the day is anticipated. The Eden wicket, known for its low and slow nature, had undergone a facelift between November 2015 and February 2016. It is expected to be kinder on the fast bowlers than the MCA stadium and the Barabati, while also assisting the spinners. Sunday's match will be played on the same strip where Delhi were bundled out for 90 and 161 against Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy encounter last October. Of the 20 Delhi wickets that fell, spinners accounted for 13 (including a third innings five-fer for right-arm offie Krishnappa Gowtham).

Team news:

India: There were reports of a relapse of Dhawan's hand injury and him being rushed to the hospital in Kolkata after landing on Friday evening, but that turned out to be a precautionary move. Despite his poor returns in the two games thus far, the left-hander should hold onto his spot. No other changes are expected either.

England: Billings's experience of playing as an opener in an ODI against Bangladesh and a No. 3 batsman in the first warm-up game against India A makes him the front-runner to take the opener's slot left vacant by Hales. The generous patches of green on the pitch are unmissable, and is likely to be enough reason for England to continue with a four-man pace attack.

Training notes:

India: In an optional practice session, Dhawan graduated from one net to another. He started by facing Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and MS Dhoni, who constantly tested him on his back foot play. He then moved to the spinners net on the other side where Amit Mishra and the net bowlers operated, before finishing off with throw downs from Sanjay Bangar. While Dhawan was batting in his first net, Ajinkya Rahane was doing the same against Mishra & Co. but was restricted to that alone. Manish Pandey, Umesh Yadav and Dhoni also got a few hits in the two-hour long session.

England: The visitors began with a lengthy football session before a few strapped their pads on. Roy and Ben Stokes took turns to bat against pace trio of David Willey, Chris Woakes and Liam Plunkett, and Adil Rashid on adjacent nets. Rashid was soon replaced by Moeen Ali, with the former getting to bat a little towards the end of the session. On the other side, Billings was seen using his feet freely against net spinners. England's T20I squad member Chris Jordan was also amongst the bowlers in the fast bowlers' net.

What they said:

'Yes, it was difficult. But before that match, at the start of the series, we practiced bowling with the wet ball.' - Bhuvneshwar Kumar on the challenge of bowling yorkers with a wet ball in the second ODI.

'A mixed bag really. Obviously being in the finals was incredible and then disappointment after the game. But good to be back, obviously it's a dead rubber but we've got to stamp our mark on India a little bit.' - Jason Roy on returning to Eden Gardens for the first time since the World T20 final last year.