India keen to end losing run against Eng

Hyderabad: In hope to make amends for the drubbing in England, India will once again face their nemesis of late - England - in an ODI series that begins with the first match here at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Friday.
MS Dhoni's side had a miserable time touring England this summer, failing to win even a single match in any form of the game. At the beginning of the summer, they were ranked as the number one Test side, but after a humiliating whitewash administered by England, they have dropped to third place. With no Test matches scheduled for this English tour of India, Dhoni's men eye revenge on the one-day stage. And they will be eager to begin this process with a win on Friday.

India will be without their stalwarts Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh, besides badly missing the likes of Rohit Sharma, Munaf Patel and Ishant Sharma, all of whom are out due to injuries sustained on the recent tour of England.
India will be boosted by the return of a fit Gautam Gambhir. Middle order batsman and undoubtedly the future of India's batting Virat Kohli will be the key man in the middle who can be both the aggressor and the anchor as the situation demands. He was the man RCB counted on in the recently concluded Champions League T20 and will surely want to carry that form into this series. Suresh Raina and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni have played non-stop cricket for long and it showed during the failures in the CLT20. That, in fact, may put more pressure on the young batsmen in the side.
Openers Parthiv Patel and Ajinkya Rahane will again have a chance to shine in absence of the regular openers and if both continue in the same vain as they did in England, it can really take the pressure of the India's middle and lower order.
The other England opener Craig Kieswetter has been in India for a while playing in CLT20 and he has been in bright form of late. Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell will be key men in the middle order as both have the ability to change gears and play according to the conditions.
Bowling department could be slight worry for England as they are without spearhead bowlers like Jamie Anderson and Stuart Broad, but the attack still has enough bite in it to worry Indian batsman. Tim Bresnan and Steven Finn are no mean bowlers and with Finn taking hat-trick in the tour game, a warning has already been issued. But Graeme Swann will undoubtedly be the spearhead in Indian conditions and can be the difference between the two teams.
India have historically placed more emphasis on the importance of limited-overs cricket than England. The reigning World Champions will, therefore, be mortified to have slipped behind England in the one-day rankings and will be desperate to climb above them once again by winning the series.