Ind vs Eng: Rohit Sharma ruled out as India look to maintain winning run

NottinghamSeeking to continue their winning momentum and take an unassailable 20 lead India were dealt a blow ahead of the third onedayer against England on Saturday as opener Rohit Sharma was ruled out of the remainder of the tour because of injurySharma who had made a wellcrafted halfcentury in Indias 133run hammering of England in the second game suffered a fracture on the middle finger of his right handMurali Vijay has been picked as Sharmas replacement for the rest of the seriesSharmas injury has turned out to be Indias biggest worry going into the third ODIRohit Sharma has been ruled out of the remaining three onedayers and the oneoff Twenty20 against England after sustaining a fracture in the middle finger of his right hand File PicGetty ImagesThe first ODI in Bristol was abandoned without a ball being bowled and India hammered the hosts under the DuckworthLewis method in the second game in Cardiff to take a 10 lead in the fivematch ODI seriesHaving recorded his first century outside the sub continent with a blazing 75ball 100 Suresh Raina will look to carry on in same fashion while Ravindra Jadeja was the pick of the bowlers in the second gameThe last time the two teams played at Trent Bridge earlier this summer the pitch for the first Test was deemed poor by match referee David Boon and the groundsman received an official warning from the ICCThere was nothing in it for the bowlers who toiled hard as the batsmen mostly tailenders from both sides made merry If a similar pitch is doled out for this ODI match though no one will be complaining as the weekend crowd will get to see a high scoring encounter hopefully with the toporder scoring this time aroundIt was also at Trent Bridge that the Ravindra JadejaJames Anderson clash had taken place and it has only recently receded from memory and this match has come about to enliven the episode again The Indian management had pressed ahead in their bid to get the fast bowler banned for allegedly pushing Jadeja so much so that they lost focus on the task at hand and lost the series 13 despite taking a 10 leadAs the two teams walk through that infamous narrow corridor of the pavilion at Trent Bridge they will feel differently about that episode India will feel that they have a point to prove The format has changed and as was apparent in Cardiff they clearly hold the edge over England in limitedovers cricketThe Men in Blue cannot lose steam and instead must go for jugular for this is not about revenge for the Test series loss Instead this is about building up to the ODI World Cup and registering as many consistent performances as they can in the next six monthsIn that light Indias success at Cardiff was a great starting point Four of the six batsmen scored runs Among them it was vital for Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane to come good While the former has now been ruled out the clock was beginning to tick on the latters role as the number four batIn scoring 41 runs Rahane has bought some time for himself and reduced one area of concern for the managementIndian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni had confirmed after the match that Raina will continue to bat at number five and this declaration sews up the batting orderThe worrying bit is Shikhar Dhawans form and that Virat Kohli has not been able to buy a run on this tour While India will surely be patient with their vicecaptain the same cannot be said about the lefthanderIn New Zealand Dhawan had been dropped once during the fiveODI series and Kohli had opened the innings Such a move is unfathomable now but with scores of 12 0 32 12 28 9 and 11 7 innings in South Africa New Zealand and England in conditions that will be similar to the World Cup the attacking opener is not doing himself any favoursFor once Indias bowling attack isnt a cause for concern However it will be interesting to watch how the bowlers will cope if they are met with an unhelpful track at Trent BridgeTo a certain extent their frailties were hidden by the friendly conditions at Cardiff not to mention that England are a bit of a mess as an ODI outfit at the momentEven so their success will mean that there might not be any changes to the playing XI meaning Umesh Yadav will have to wait longer for his chance in all probabilityMeanwhile it can be said that after a massive loss in the previous game the euphoria of the Test series will have died down As much as they care about the longer format the English team managements sole focus now is on the upcoming World Cup and their performance at Cardiff belied any serious preparations they had made so farAlex Hales and Chris Woakes were the two positives from that second ODI but the rest of the team simply failed to turn upWhile there is already criticism coming about from excricketers about their plans for the World Cup Alastair Cook and his supporting staff have firm calculations in their mindsFollowing Englands abject surrender former great Ian Botham lashed out at the home team and the criticism is ringing in the players ears as they get ready to take the fieldFor a team in their situation the best remedy is to make changesWhile they are missing Stuart Broad already it will be asking too much for them to play two spinners against IndiaTheir most plausible change could be bringing in Steve Finn for the offcolour Chris JordanFor some inspiration though they will look at James Anderson again The fast bowler will have shrugged off unwanted memories from that pushgate scandal but it remains to be seen whether returning to the scene of the incident can fire him up enough once again and carry his team forwardTeams India MS Dhoni c amp wk Shikhar Dhawan Rohit Sharma Virat Kohli Ajinkya Rahane Suresh Raina Ambati Rayudu Stuart Binny Sanju Samson R Ashwin Ravindra Jadeja Karn Sharma Mohit Sharma Umesh Yadav Mohammad Shami Dhawal Kulkarni Bhuvneshwar KumarEngland Alastair Cook c Moeen Ali James Anderson Gary Ballance Ian Bell Jos Buttler wk Steven Finn Harry Gurney Alex Hales Chris Jordan Eoin Morgan Joe Root Ben Stokes James Tredwell Chris WoakesMatch starts at 3 pm IST