IND vs ENG | 2nd ODI: Dominant hosts seek series win as Morgan's men eye rule of aggression

Finally, India broke the jinx of losing the first game of the series thanks to their never-ending spree of debutant making heroic arrival on the big stage. For once, when the opening pair of Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy were going great guns, the shoulders started to drop, but one of the debutants Prasidh Krishna brought them back in the game.

The first game of the series once again highlighted a completely different style of playing ODI cricket by either side. India are still hesitant to give up on their style of starting slowly and building up for a late flourish after the 40-over mark. On the other hand, England are dominant in their batting and do not want to let go of that style of playing cricket having tasted a huge success in the form of an ODI world Cup two years back. 

Pundits in the UK and India highlighted the lack of flexibility in the England batting line up as they missed someone who could soak up the pressure and paced his innings while big shots would have kept on coming from the other end. However, skipper Eoin Morgan was not regretful about the batting approach of his team and reiterated that they will carry on playing in the same manner irrespective of the result.

For India, the plan worked perfectly until wickets started falling off in cluster in the middle overs. But, just when things started to fall off the clip, another debutant, Krunal Pandya arrived on the scenes to rescue them with a magical knock.

Going into the second ODI of the series, there will be a fierce contest between the team and the ODI series which was lagging behind in terms of context, has now got all in store for both the teams. 

India vs England: Match Details

Match No.-02

Date and Time: March 26, 01:30 PM IST, 08:00 AM IST

Venue: Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune

Pitch conditions

The second ODI too will be played at the same Maharasthra Cricket Association ground in Pune although the pitch to be used for this game is likely to be a fresh one.

The pitch in the first ODI offered pace and bounce as the likes of Mark Wood and Prasidh Krishna enjoyed testing the back foot game of the batsmen with short of a length deliveries.

The trend is likely to continue in the second ODI as well but it will be interesting to see the makeup of the bowling attack of both teams.

Team News

India

There will be a forced change in the playing XI from the last game with middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer getting ruled out of the series due to shoulder subluxation. Either Suryakumar Yadav or Rishabh Pant would gain from the pain of Iyer, but in all likelihood, Pant might get the nod ahead of Yadav.

There may well be another change on cards if Rohit Sharma, who was hit on his elbow by a rapid Mark Wood delivery, reports some serious concerns.

Kohli will be tempted to see what Mohammed Siraj brings to the table in ODI cricket especially having played Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the entire length of the T20 series.

Strongest XI

Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul (WK) Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar/Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna

England

Like Iyer, Sam Billing also had hurt his shoulder in the first game. Although he batted in the second innings, there will be a question mark over his fitness going into the second game of the series.

Tom Curran has had a horror run with the ball on the tour and after the onslaughts in the T20I series, there were no signs of respite even in the ODI cricket.

Mark Wood played four out of five T20 games of the series, and hence Morgan would have to make a decision on his workload. However, with the series on the line, Morgan is unlikely to change his bowling combination due to the workload factor.

Strongest XI

Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Eoin Morgan (c), Jos Buttler(wk), Sam Billings, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Mark Wood, Adil Rashid, Tom Curran/Reece Topley