Preview: In battle of pre-tournament favourites, India could push England towards World Cup exit

There were two clear favourites in the eyes of most watchers when then the 2019 World Cup began. India because they had the world’s best batsman and a dangerous bowling attack and hosts England, the world’s no 1 ODI team then, because they had a batting line-up that was the envy of the world.

But while India have gone from strength-to-strength despite some key players missing out due to injury, England have crumbled under pressure; pressure they are now saying that they are not feeling at all. Still, the results speak for themselves.

With an unbeaten record in six encounters so far, Virat Kohli’s men are all but through to the semi-finals with 11 points but a win against England will further tighten their grip at the top and in the process oust World’s No 1 ODI team from the global event.

Eoin Morgan’s men have bungled big time in crucial games – with some ridiculous shot selection, which has now brought them at the verge of exit with only six points from seven games.

Sunday’s encounter at Birmingham’s Edgbaston with a capacity Indian crowd could be a rather unsettling experience for a team which is already under severe pressure from all quarters. For all you know, it won’t feel like home to England.

In fact, it increased exponentially after Jonny Bairstow’s dig at former England captains Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen.

“People were waiting for us to fail,” Bairstow told reporters.

“They are not willing us on to win, in many ways, they are waiting for you to get that loss, so they can jump on your throat. It’s a typical English thing to do, in every sport,” Bairstow’s comments prior to the India game didn’t go down well with Vaughan, who countered, calling it a “negative, pathetic mindset” in an Instagram post.

For India, possibly, it couldn’t have been a better time to square off with the Poms who could again be unsettled by conditions which are expected to be predominantly sub-continental.

There’s bright sunshine and a baked pitch, on the drier side, with the promise of more turn than usual.

Also read: Spin battle, Kohli’s Edgbaston return and other talking points.

Playing two wrist spinners in these conditions along with a lethal Jasprit Bumrah could well spell doom for an English side, which has fluffed its lines while chasing against Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia.

In fact, Morgan’s approach of moving towards leg stump against a fast and furious Mitchell Starc during Lord’s game prompted Kevin Pietersen to question whether the skipper is “scared”.

England, however, could take solace from the fact that they beat India 2-1 in their last bilateral series at home but an injured Bumrah didn’t feature in that series.

The Indian team, however, will not be over strategising about the English team as pacer Mohammed Shami pointed out.

“Rather than thinking about opposition, it is better that we focus on our own skills. If our skill level is good, we would not need to even think about the opposition,” Shami, who has taken 8 wickets in 2 games, said after mauling the West Indies.

India’s middle-order batting still remains a concern and Vijay Shankar’s performance at troublesome number four slot remains a concern. But the team management has shown no inclination to field the young Rishabh Pant so far.

“They have invested in a youngster like Shankar. The team management feels he is important to their plans so no harm in persisting with him. Moreover, the team is winning handsomely so they have the right to continue with a winning combination,” former skipper Sourav Ganguly said during a chat with PTI.

What’s been said:

“I think critics are there to be critical. We haven’t performed well, so they are going to be critical. They’re entitled to their own opinion. I think the support that we’ve had from our fans and everybody around the country has been unbelievable. It has been outstanding. There’s been an enormous amount of good faith and goodwill going around.

“As regards to conditions, they are what they are. We can’t control them. It’s not a talking point for us. It’s a matter of us being better at adapting to conditions.”  

— England captain, Eoin Morgan

“It’s a strange one because [Vijay Shankar] had a decent game against Pakistan. I think against Afghanistan on that pitch he looked really assured. Shot selection, again, we discussed with him for that game. Last game, again, he came out, he looked really good, and he got a beautiful ball from Kemar Roach.

“So you can’t really sit down and pinpoint things. But I personally felt he looked really solid. There’s not much that needs to be tinkered. Sometimes in cricket you just need a bit of luck to get over from 30 to 60, and then you play a defining knock for the team.

“He’s very close to that, and we’re very confident he’s going to end up playing that kind of knock for us.”

— India captain, Virat Kohli

Squads:

India: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ravindra Jadeja.

England: Eoin Morgan (captain), James Vince, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer, Jason Roy, Liam Plunkett, Tom Curran and Liam Dawson.

Match Starts at 3 PM [IST].