ODI preview / Michael Vaughan / 16 October 2011 /

India were vastly superior in the first match and there could be more of the same here unless a couple of England's senior players put in much improved performances, says Michael Vaughan.

England's young players are learning very quickly just how tough it is to win in India. On Friday they made a pretty good start with the ball and had India in trouble at four wickets down before MS Dhoni's big-hitting master-class at the end of the innings guided them to an imposing total. They then made a decent start with the bat when Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen were finding the boundary with relative ease before a disappointing middle-order collapse.

In fairness to England, it was an important toss and batting first gave India the edge. Had Cook's men batted first they could have posted a big total themselves and put India under pressure.

There's no need for Andy Flower to panic just yet and make big changes. After all, we're only one match into the series. But if we're going to get another turning wicket in Delhi on Monday it may be necessary to play another spinner so we might see Scott Borthwick come in for one of the pace men, probably Steve Finn. The more important thing though is that someone like Kevin Pietersen comes in and plays a big innings. Quick 30s and 40s don't win you games out in India, you need to bat for longer and make really big scores, just like Dhoni did the other day. With no Eoin Morgan in the side because of injury, KP is the main man in that middle-order and he needs to be the one who anchors the innings and bats for at least half of the overs.

Another guy who needs to start performing is Samit Patel. In the first match India played him with ease and looked like they were going to score off every ball when he was bowling. In the sub-Continent you need both your spinners performing to a high standard or else you're in trouble. He could do with a decent score with the bat too as he's in the team as an all-rounder.

The other spinner, Graeme Swann, was excellent again. But I'd like to see a slight change of tactics from Cook and have Swann bowl during the powerplay overs. If India want to take him on, so be it, but I'd fancy him to take wickets at the start of the innings and that could all of a sudden make India nervous and that could help slow down the run rate when the other bowlers were in action.

Either way, India are a good bet to go 2-0 up at [1.8]. They batted extremely well, particularly late on, and their spinners were superb. They looked far more comfortable in the conditions, just like England did a few weeks ago when they were at home and the ball was swinging. England's best chance of course is to bat first and try to make life difficult for India under lights but unless it's a really big total, India should win. If they do, we might be on for a whitewash here.

Dhoni's innings the other day was one of the best I've seen in recent times and showed just how devastating he can be on these sort of wickets. For me, he's India's best batsman in this format. He's an interesting price at around [7.0] to top score again but there's always the concern he may not be at the crease for long enough. Virat Kohli was looking very good the other day until a superb catch from Pietersen on the boundary ended his innings, and is the preferred choice at around [5.2] to top score this time round.

3 pts Back India to win @ [1.8]
1 pt Back Virat Kohli to be Top Indian batsman @ [5.2]

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

:

:

:

?

: