After a New Year hiatus, England will resume their tour of India and be out for more success when they begin a three-match one-day series. Join The Roar for live scores of the first match in Pune from 7pm (AEDT).
Casting the mind back to the end of 2015 and it was England getting destroyed by India during a five-match Test series, going down 4-0, a draw the only saviour from a white-wash.
Unfortunately for England, their one-day warm-up form doesn’t look to be all that good and a change to the shorter formats, with Eoin Morgan taking over the captaincy from Alastair Cook doesn’t look to be on the cards.
While England did pick up a victory in their first warm-up game, it wasn’t a convincing one before they went down in Mumbai to India A by six wickets with over ten overs remaining.
To think they bit the dust that badly after scoring 282 makes things even worse and it won’t improve for the upcoming series unless their batsmen, led by Morgan, Jason Roy and Jos Buttler can find some form in a hurry.
Simply put, India is a place where you must score a lot of runs in the one-day format to stand a chance and England don’t look to have the power, form or temperament to do that in a big enough volume.
India won’t be out expecting an easy series win and building to the 2017 Champions Trophy, they will be out to put one past the tourists in a big way.
Their last one-day series though came against New Zealand, who they beat 3-2 in a convincing manner but the Indians haven’t played any other one-day cricket since the World T20, where they were knocked out in the semi-finals so it’s difficult to get a serious gauge of their form.
As always, captain Virat Kohli will have a big role to play in securing a big total, being the anchor of the top order. MS Dhoni will also be out to prove his form, while the fight for spots will be on with others looking to score big personal totals, which should lead to team success.
Prediction
It’s tougher for India to be as dominant at home in the shorter formats as they are in the longer formats, but it’s hard to see them getting beaten first time out.
Their batting has too much depth and their bowling should outclass the English outfit, who will still be down on confidence despite the change of formats and personnel.
India to go up 1-0 in the series.
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Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde
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