New Delhi, Jan 15: Indian captain MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat against England in the second one-day international at Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Tuesday.
India have replaced Ashok Dinda with Shami Ahmed, while England have brought in Chris Woakes in place of an unfit Tim Bresnan.
Any slip-up in this match would mean that India would be 0-2 down in the five-match series and winning the series from there would be quite an ask.
With Kochi offering another batting-friendly surface, the onus would be on the batsmen to put India in a position of strength. Far too often in the recent past, the Indian top-order has shown a tendency to cave in under pressure.
Indian bowlers too will have to pull up their socks. They had given a better account of themselves in the series against Pakistan, but cut a sorry figure in Rajkot.
One thing that may work to India's advantage in Kochi will be the humidity. Most visiting teams who have played here have struggled to come to terms with the sapping conditions.
On the other hand, the win in Rajkot would have only increased England's self-belief. After winning a historic Test series in India recently, they are now eyeing a double by clinching the ODI series too.
Teams:
India: MS Dhoni (Capt.), Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shami Ahmed.
England: Alastair Cook (Capt.), Ian Bell, Kevin Petersen, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Craig Kieswetter, Samit Patel, James Tredwell, Steven Finn, Jade Dernbach, Chris Woakes.
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