The start of the limited overs leg of the Indian tour of England will bring some hope for the Indian side and their legion of fans. This second leg of the tour begins with a T20I between India and England at Manchester.
England V India T20I At Manchester: Batting Looks Set For India, Bowling Selection Woes Loom
Indian captain MS Dhoni will look to ensure that he can juggle around with the remaining fit Indian cricketers as they take on England in the one-off T20I at Manchester.
India go into the game with some injury worries; already missing from their line-up are the likes of Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Ishant Sharma, Zaheer Khan and now with the mild concussion, Gautam Gambhir could also miss the game.
Sachin Tendulkar may not be a part of the line-up after having quit the T20Is, which makes the Indian selection hassle-free – for the lack of choices in the batting department. All the remaining seven batsmen in the squad should make it to the playing 11, unless the Indian management decides to go in with an extra bowler.
That may not be such a bad option given that the selection of Parthiv Patel, Ajinkya Rahane and Rahul Dravid in the top three spots does not quite cut the ice; one of them can be allowed to make way for a fifth bowling option.
The other four certainties in the batting will be Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and captain MS Dhoni. What will be interesting to see is whether the captain pushes any of them to the top of the innings.
Kohli has been the form-batsman; he has already scored a couple of 70s in the tour games and will be itching to get a game after missing the Tests. Rohit Sharma comes into the limited overs version of the tour with some form under his belt as well; he was the man of the series in West Indies and looked to have curbed his natural instincts enough to bat out longer than usual.
The bowling line-up is well-endowed in numbers but it will be interesting to see whether someone like RP Singh gets another go after his poor performance in the Oval Test match. What could work in his favour is that he managed to grab four wickets in his nine-over spell against Sussex at Hove, and while he conceded 36 off his four overs against Kent, he got another couple of wickets there as well.
Praveen Kumar and Munaf Patel should make it to the 11, as should R Ashwin, but based on whether the captain wants to go in four or five bowlers, the others would come into reckoning as well. Vinay Kumar could be a better option as the third seamer, with Ashwin as the spinner if the Indians decide to go in with a 7-4 combination.
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