ODI preview / Ed Hawkins / 13 November 2008 / 1

The afternoon heat should encourage the captain winning the toss to bat first but the new powerplay rule may make him think twice. All in all, it should be a good one says Ed Hawkins.

Following a 124-run humbling and being bowled out for 98 against a team of club players, it would be facetious to claim that England are not the most adept at hitting the ground running when it comes to one-day international tours.

The defeat to the Mumbai Cricket Association, who shared 25 first-class appearances between 12 of them (it was one of those revolving door matches), was embarrassing for the visitors but anyone pinning a punt on the back of it for first one-day international against India in Rajkot on Friday would be foolish.

England were not trying and are no strangers to disastrous results in warm-up matches. Besides, there are better reasons to think that they could struggle in the first of seven matches. They are [2.72] for a surprise victory with the home team [1.57].

It would be a surprise if they won, not because some view this contest as a mismatch, but for the reason that England so often start an away series in a slipshod manner.

They have won only four of their previous 10 opening matches of a one-day international series. India do not fare much better with five wins. Expect an average effort from both teams then.

The heat could be the most important factor, making the toss crucial. There is no coin flip bias at the Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground but with 92 degree temperatures expected for the first innings, it is obvious that the winning captain will want to bat first.

Bat well there and you should post a challenging total. The average first-innings score is a high 277, a statistic which should immediately point us to the team runs market when the toss is known.

Other than that there is little ground form to go on. India have won three and lost three of their last six at the venue while no batsman in their probable XI has a consistent enough record which makes us sit up and take notice for a top runscorer bet. Virender Sehwag scored an unbeaten century there against West Indies in 2002 and Yuvraj Singh an unbeaten half-century versus Sri Lanka in 2005.

The wicket is reported to be soft and "unlikely to break" according to India captain MS Dhoni, not that as punters we should expect deterioration in a potentially 100-over match. There just isn't the time for a dramatic change in the surface.

Spin may not play a huge part and in the previous two games it is the pacemen that have shone. Munaf Patel claimed four wickets last year against Sri Lanka and RP Singh did likewise against the same opposition two years before.

Both sides have juggled the pack in the days leading up to the game. There is, of course, no Sachin Tendulkar until the fourth ODI at least while Ishant Sharma, the tall and rangy fast bowler, has been ruled out of game one with an ankle injury.

For England Ryan Sidebottom is out, Stuart Broad has been declared fit but Luke Wright has made way for Ravi Bopara, a sensible decision considering the Essex all-rounder's game is more suited to India's slow and low surfaces.

The most interesting change is the new Powerplay rule, which allows the batting side to choose five overs when the fielding captain must have only three fielders outside of the circle. With 15 Powerplay overs, previously each segment of five was called by the fielding captain but now batsmen will pick when they want one from the last two powerplays.

It has the potential to weigh heavily in the favour of a team batting second. After all, a team knows what the target is, often sets a reasonable tempo to achieve that regardless of Powerplays and so long as they have not lost too many wickets, are safe in the knowledge that easy runs can come if they choose to delay a Powerplay until the later overs. For further clarification, check here

We may not see as many close finishes as we have done in this format in the past thanks to this get out of jail free card, although there will be some that argue that following England's efforts against the Mumbai CA XI we'll be lucky to get any sort of game at all.

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1. Stewey | 16 November 2008

   Ed
   Did you read Goughs comments re favouritsm about England team selection? Root of the problem I would say. Moores is useless. India to rack up wins.
   What have you done with Pablo Lino, enjoyed reading his bits and bobs.
   

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