Yuvi's fitness only concern for confident India

With their confidence on a high after the landslide win in the opening ODI, in-form batsman Yuvraj Singh's back injury is India's only concern as they prepare to take on a battered England in the second one-dayer of the seven-match cricket series on Monday.

After drubbing the visitors by a massive 158 runs, the Indians are hoping that Yuvraj, who pummelled the English attack with an unbeaten 138, would be fit to take the field on Monday.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni says a final call on the attacking left-hander, who required a runner for most part of his innings in the Rajkot ODI, would taken just before the match.Pace spearhead Ishant Sharma, meanwhile, is all but out of the match after Dhoni admitted that his ankle sprain needs more time to heal.

England, on the other hand, have to battle low morale after the pasting they received at the hands of the marauding Yuvraj. Skipper Kevin Pietersen says his team would bounce back and come hard at India in the second clash.

But that looks easier said than done against an in-form Indian line-up, which did not show any sign of missing a stalwart in Sachin Tendulkar, who has been rested for the first three matches.It was Tendulkar's masterly batting that enabled India to tame Australia in the latter's lair in the triangular ODI series Down Under at the beginning of the year and his absence was surprisingly not even felt at Rajkot's Madhavrao Scindia ground.

The array of stroke-players that India possess in the batting line-up, starting with the potent opening combine of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir followed by Suresh Raina, Yuvraj, Rohit Sharma and Dhoni, must be causing not only envy but also awe among among the visiting team.

The Indian new ball bowlers Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel in particular extracted life even in the afternoon on what was a perfect belter in Rajkot while their England counterparts --led by the redoubtable Andrew Flintoff -- looked quite innocuous and failed to take advantage of whatever juice it possessed in the morning.

Pietersen's decision to ask India to take first strike must have been prompted by the array of pace bowlers at his disposal, but to his chagrin all of them were taken to the cleaners by the Indian batsmen.It is unlikely the South Africa-born batsman, who top-scored in England's reply with a confident and attractive 63 before he was run out, will repeat the same mistake henceforth."It's definitely disappointing to lose.

But there are six games left in the series and we intend to bounce back and hit India hard on Monday. We would give them a good run for the money", the England captain said after his team's humiliating defeat in the first ODI.

However, to achieve this he said the team has to improve in all aspects of the game.India, on the other hand, could not have asked for a better start to the seven-match series that concludes on December 2 at the Ferozshah Kotla ground in Delhi.

The mandatory new ball after 34 overs and the new Power Play rule, taken by India from 34th to 38th overs, also is a big advantage for big hitters.At the end of the 34th over, India were 216 for two giving a run-rate of 6.35 and the team added 171 runs in the last 16 overs at a whopping 10.6 per over, a clear indicator of the difference these two rules made to the overall picture.

Yusuf Pathan, who lasted just two balls after the electric start provided by the openers, could give way for left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha if the think tank feels that more variety is required in the spin department which had three off-spinners to fall back on at Rajkot.

England, meanwhile, are grappling with their problems of how to forge a potent bowling attack to take advantage of the wicket and weather conditions here.Samit Patel, who was set upon by Sehwag and Gambhir as soon as he was introduced to bowl, took two wickets but conceded 78 runs. With Monty Panesar not a part of the ODI fold, visitors' spin options are limited.

They are also missing the swing bowling of Ryan Sidebottom, who could have caused some problems with his movement as the other four -- Flintoff, Steve Harmison, James Anderson and Stuart Broad -- rely on pace and bounce more than movement in the air to get wickets.

Sidebottom has not played since suffering a heel injury during the Stanford Super Series of matches in the West Indies and even if passed fit, it is difficult to see him getting in without bowling extensively at the nets after having had such a long break.

The odds, thus, seem to be in India's favour ahead of the second ODI, but the home team needs to guard against complacency more than anything else.

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Virendra Sehwag (Vice-captain), Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, R P Singh, Munaf Patel, Virat Kohli, Murali Vijay.

England: Kevin Pieternsen (Captain), Ian Bell, Matt Prior, Owais Shah, Alastair Cook, Paul Collingwood, Ravi Bopara, Andy Flintoff, Samit Patel Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Steve Harmison, Luke Wright and Ryan Sidebottom.

Wadekar predicts 7-0 ‘brown-wash’ for England

Bangalore: Former Indian skipper and coach Ajit Wadekar predicted a 7-0 ‘brown-wash’ for the touring England team after their miserable 158-run defeat at the hands of Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men in the first One-Day International at Rajkot on Friday.

"I think the Indians’ morale was very high, coming into this match, after their 2-0 victory against world champions Aussies in the Test series. They look like a team on a mission under Dhoni and I won’t be surprised if they sweep the seven-match One-Day series 7-0 as they have the ammunition to beat any team in the world right now," Wadekar told Cricketnext.com on Saturday.

"Personally, this team seems to be more talented than the one I lead during our twin tours of 1971 to the West Indies and England. Of course we beat both the West Indies and England at their own dens in a Test series, but the confidence shown by Dhoni, as captain, and the team, as a united force, tempts me to compare them with the 1971 victorious team," Wadekar added.
Stressing that the Indian team was well on their way to becoming the number one team in the world in all forms of the game, Wadekar said, all other teams will now want to beat India thereby making the task of Dhoni that much more harder to keep-up the winning streak.

"Even when I was the coach of the Indian team, I never saw this kind of total commitment and the hunger to demolish the opponents. The Indians totally demolished the Englishmen with clinical precision by outplaying them in all departments of the game. Dhoni and company will now have to be doubly careful as all other teams would want to beat India to prove a point or two," Wadekar observed.

"I think Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag seem to compliment each other perfectly and the middle order looks as solid as a rock with Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni himself looking in fine touch.

"However, one weak link that seems to be quite evident is Yousuf Pathan, who seems to be a misfit in this team. Dhoni must have had lot of faith in him to be promoted ahead of him in the batting order and bringing him on as a specialist spinner ahead of Harbhajan Singh unfortunately did not click," he added.

"However, it is impossible to get everything right and when a team wins by such a huge margin the team selection does not become prominent. But I am sure in the next match, Dhoni will surely replace Pathan with another specialist spinner as the batting looks well settled," Wadekar pointed out.

"I was also impressed with Zaheer Khan’s lion hearted bowling. This lad has become an important part of our pace attack. Even without Ishant Sharma, I think, the Indian pacers – Zaheer, Munaf Patel and Rudra Pratap Singh -- did well and Sehwag seems to be improving as a bowler with every match.

"So there are lots of plus points for the hosts to suggest that the Englishmen are in real trouble to save the One-Day series at the moment," he added.

Anbu.

Yuvraj shines in India's 158- run win over England

Despite some fighting knocks from skipper Kevin Pietersen and Ravi Bopara, England fell short by 158 runs as India won the first One-Day International of the seven-match series in Rajkot.
After posting a mammoth total of 387 runs with the help Yuvraj Singh's unbeaten 138 runs and Virender Sehwag's flamboyant 85 runs, India bundled England for 229 runs at the Madhavrao Scindia Stadium.

Put in to bat first, Indian batsmen made merry after seeing through the first few overs. England's nemesis Yuvraj toyed with the bowlers to raise ninth ODI hundred, his second against the visitors.

Yuvraj, who was suffering from a back spasm, dealt the bowlers in boundaries, and hit sixteen 4s and six 6s in his 78-ball long outing. Everything that he hit found itself outside the boundaries. He was instrumental in two key partnerships. He added 89 runs with Suresh Raina for the third wicket and 105 runs with skipper MS Dhoni for the fifth wicket. He walked away with the 'Man of the match' award.

Indian openers- Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir - gave a good start to before spinner Samit Patel broke their 127-run partnership. Gambhir came dancing down the track to loft one from Patel. It lacked the distance as he was caught at long-off by Shah for 51 runs.

Sehwag, who bombarded England with boundaries, fell as Patel's second victim. He steered one from Patel but a vigilant Bell at mid-wicket threw himself to his right and took a beauty to see the tormentor back in the hut.

Sehwag made 85 runs in 73 balls with the help of ten 4s and three 6s. Sehwag slammed two consecutive sixes off Paul Collingwood and raised 30th ODI fifty, his third against the tourists. Gambhir, on the other hand, got his eighth half-century in 59 balls with the eight fours. Not that his innings was any less aggressive but it was definitely more subdued as compared to his partner.

Raina missed out on his fifty as Paul Collingwood take a sensational catch off Andrew Flintoff at backward point. Yusuf Pathan, who replaced him in the middle, could not contribute to the scoreboard. He was caught at midwicket by Ian Bell off Steve Harmison for a naught. Harmison later picked Dhoni as his second wicket. He cleaned up his middle stump with a full delivery straight in line for 39 runs.

Backed by a huge score, pacers struck straightaway. Munaf gave the first breakthrough when he dismissed opener Matt Prior for 4 runs. Prior edged one from Munaf and Sehwag took a sharp catch at first slip.

New man Shah was Sehwag's next catch. He edged a fuller delivery from Zaheer and Sehwag dived to his left to take it successfully. Ian Bell was Zaheer's next victim. Zaheer teased him with a short and wide delivery and Bell edged it, only to taken by wicketkeeper MS Dhoni for 25 runs. Few balls later, 'Freddie' Flintoff was caught plumb in front and Zaheer picked his third wicket.

After warming the bench for long, medium-pacer RP Singh struck to remove Paul Collingwood for 19 runs. RP pitched a delivery outside the stump that angled in. Collingwood edged it behind and Dhoni dived to his left to take a low catch. With Collingwood, half the English side was back in hut.

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh also contributed as he removed Samit Patel (28) with his 'doosra'. The ball pitched outside the off-stump and straightened. Keeper Dhoni made no mistake and stumped Patel for 28 runs.

Kevin Pietersen, who slammed a fifty, was caught short of the crease for 63 runs. A throw from Rohit Sharma was collected by Dhoni and bails were dislodged long before KP could make it. After his dismissal, it was just a matter of time. Though, Ravi Bopara (54*) showed some character down the order and slammed his 3rd ODI fifty, his partners could provide him enough support.

Last two batsmen Steve Harmison and James Anderson fell without any contribution.
India and England play their second ODI at Indore on Monday, i.e. November 17.
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Munaf Patel.

England: Kevin Pietersen (Captain), Ian Bell, Matt Prior, Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood, Ravi Bopara, Andrew Flintoff, Samit Patel, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Steve Harmison.
Umpires: Russel Tiffin and Suresh Shastri.

Anbu.

Unrepentant Gambhir slams abusive Aussies

New Delhi: Gautam Gambhir had to sit out the Nagpur Test against Australia in the fourth Test in Nagpur for elbowing Shane Watson, but the India opener said he was provoked by the all-rounder and had no regrets for what he had done.

"No gentleman can hear things that Aussies were saying in Delhi. If what I did was wrong, then even sledging should be stopped, it has no place in the game," said the left-hander.

"They were sledging from all corners, they sledged at me in Bangalore, Mohali and then in Delhi. I could have taken (their sledging) only to a point but they tend to get personal which is just not on," he added.

"I agree that I shouldn't have crossed a certain line but people should take the holistic view rather than blaming just me for the episode. Frankly, I don't regret the Watson episode," he said.

Gambhir, who scord Test in Delhi and a hundred before that in Mohali, said Australians never liked their opposition giving a tough fight to them.

"They don't like when the opposition reacts the way we did. Australians were never expecting that we will come hard at them and that's why they reacted the way they did."

The Delhi batsman, who emerged the highest run-getter in the four-match Test series with 463 runs, said he was unhappy for being ignored for the Man of the Series Award, which was bagged by Ishant Sharma.

"I have never been that lucky, may be I need to get 400! I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt. I take comfort in the fact that the team won the series and I am really happy for Ishant who bowled his heart out in the series," Gambhir told ESPN

The opener though said he would never shed his aggressive image despite the recent tiff with the Australians.

"I like to be aggressive, I am a fighter who plays for his team, his country and will do everything to restore that pride and never you'd see me taking a backward step."

And reacting to Shahid Afridi's comment that the ban on playing Nagpur Test would hlep the India opener learn lessons, Gambhir said, "It is a joke coming from Afridi, actually, he should concentrate on his own game rather than telling me what to do. People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones at others, I can't take Afridi seriously."

On criticism against him for getting out in the 60s and 70s, Gambhir said, "Frankly, it doesn't really bother me what critics say as long as I help my team and my country win series after series and tournaments after tournaments."

"VVS Laxman told me in Sri Lanka that my biggest challenge will be playing against Australia and I need to pass that test. I met him in Nagpur and asked him if did clear that test, he told me, 'you have not only passed the test but passed it with a distinction.'

I don't think I need any more approvals from anyone," said Gambhir

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Anbu.