India vs England: India look to seal the series at Lord's

A highonconfidence India look set to wrap up another series on the UK tour unless England find a way to tackle the marauding Kuldeep Yadav when the two teams clash in the second and penultimate ODI at Lords here tomorrow It is a short turnaround from the first ODI at Trent Bridge as also from the T20I series that finished 21 in Indias favour SundayPerhaps the game was scheduled for Saturday keeping in mind the FIFA World Cup final on Sunday But with only a days gap between the two matches it hasnt worked out in Englands favour who have their task cut out once again after going down by eight wickets in the series openerIn conditions resembling those in Manchester in terms of a dry pitch the English batsmen failed to comprehend Kuldeeps wrist spin Like at Old Trafford he was also helped by the breeze blowing across the ground and gained drift bamboozling the batsmen to pick his best figures in ODI cricketUnlike in the T20I series England do not have the option of battling this phenomenon with a practice outing against the spinbowling machine Merlyn With both teams travelling to London on Friday there might not even be enough time to sit down for some video analysis In that light the English batsmen will have to contend mentally with how to play Yadav tomorrowIt will be easier said than done Some of it is down to shot selection At 70odd for no loss after 10 overs Jason Roy didnt need to play the two reverse sweeps in two overs against the wrist spinners the second resulting in his dismissal Skipper Eoin Morgan didnt play the best shot against Yuzvendra Chahal either Yadav outfoxed both Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root with the latter in particular looking all at seaIt has been a poor ten days for Root and Englands prime batsman for the summer is looking bereft of any confidence This was the third time in three innings that he was out to wrist spin falling to googlies in the two T20Is he played A sharp leg break did the job at Trent Bridge in what is quickly becoming a problem for RootA school of thought suggests that Jos Buttler could be elevated in the batting order once again He looked the most composed amongst English batsmen and extended his good run of form to get another halfcentury under his belt albeit batting too low at number six With the wrist spinners deployed in tandem Morgan had admitted that batting against the new ball was their best chance to deny India This could inspire a promotion for Buttler to number three tomorrowPitch apart from mental preparation will also be key for England After going 10 down in the T20Is the next two wickets in Cardiff and Bristol had a top layering of grass on them Despite the grass there wasnt much swing available in either game yet this move did just enough to blunt the wrist spinners So much so that the green top in the third T20I bluffed the Indian team management into dropping Yadav for that series deciding game albeit the wicket turned out to be a batting beautyIt remains to be seen if the wicket at Lords and Headingley Leeds thereafter iquest will have any green on the surface The domestic T20 competition here in England began on July 4 so word is that pitch at Lords would reflect that never mind the green tops in Cardiff and BristolMiddlesex had hosted Surrey here on July 5 for their first T20 game of the season and Irelands offbreak bowling allrounder Paul Stirling picked up 326 The two teams scored at 8plus per over In team news Alex Hales has now been ruled out of the entire ODI series owing to a side strain He had earlier been ruled out of the first ODI with the team management keeping an eye on his recovery for the remaining two games Middlesex batsman Dawid Malan will stay with the England squad for the second ODIIndia meanwhile are unbeaten in bilateral ODI series since the tour of Australia in January 2016 They have won nine successive contests thereafter with the 2017 Champions Trophy the only tournament wherein they failed to return with a trophy Barring any unforeseen fitness issues the same playing eleven could feature at Lords Bhuvneshwar Kumar was seen bowling at Trent Bridge ahead of the first ODI albeit the team management might not want to rush him back in view of sterner challenges aheadIt will be a comfortable bus journey from Nottingham to London for the Men in Blue In the knowledge that just six days after drawing first blood on this long tour they now have a chance to register another serious blow to England Wrapping up the ODIs with a 20 unassailable will also close the gap between the two sides in the ICC rankings More importantly it will hand over bragging rights to India ahead of the fiveTest seriesTeams India Virat Kohli c Shikhar Dhawan Rohit Sharma KL Rahul MS Dhoni wk Dinesh Karthik Suresh Raina Hardik Pandya Kuldeep Yadav Yuzvendra Chahal Shreyas Iyer Siddarth Kaul Axar Patel Umesh Yadav Shardul Thakur Bhuvneshwar KumarEngland Eoin Morgan c Jason Roy Jonny Bairstow Jos Buttler wk Moeen Ali Joe Root Jake Ball Tom Curran Dawid Malan Liam Plunkett Ben Stokes Adil Rashid David Willey Mark WoodAlso Read Kuldeep Has Exposed Area Of Our Game We Need To Improve On Says Eoin MorganCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever