ICC World Cup 2023: Twist and turn

India captain Rohit Sharma with head coach Rahul Dravid during a practice session on the eve of their ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup game against England at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Saturday. Pic/AFP

The battered England Lions will be playing for pride when they are up against seemingly invincible India at the Ekana Stadium on Sunday. Normally, the clash between the defending champions and the hosts would have been a crucial game, but with England having lost their wonted form, the fans are only hoping it does not turn out to be a tame affair. The good thing is there is still a lot of enthusiasm among the locals to see the star players in action and for once, the stadium is expected to put up a houseful sign.

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Though India have won all five games rather comfortably, there are still a couple of issues they have to tackle going ahead. One is that they have chased down targets in all their wins and have yet to defend a total. They would surely like to do that at least twice in the four remaining games before they get into the knockout stage. However, the team management would not be unduly worried as the bowling unit has done exceedingly well so far.

Ravichandran Ashwin. Pic/PTI

The second issue is the fitness of all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who is still not available after suffering an ankle injury in the game against Bangladesh. He is in rehab at the NCA in Bangalore and both the team as well as the fans are eagerly waiting for him to make a comeback. His absence has disturbed the balance of the side as he is a vital cog between the top-order and lower-order batting line-up. His absence is a bit of a worry for team management, as a result, it made the bowlers, be it Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, R Ashwin or Mohammed Shami bat for a longer duration in the nets on Friday. The team management realises that runs from the lower order could be a crucial factor as we saw in the South Africa v Pakistan game in Chennai, where the tailenders guided the Proteas to a one-wicket win in a thrilling finish on Friday night.

Though, by and large, the Ekana pitch has played well in the three games so far, there is no denying that it has a bit of extra help for the spinners. In that case, the team think-tank will be tempted to play off-spinner Ashwin against the beleaguered England batters, who normally like the ball to come onto the bat. The team management in that case will have a tough decision on whom to leave out - Shami, who took five wickets in the previous match or Siraj who is a bit off-colour of late.

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Kuldeep Yadav's figures in the one ODI (v SA in 2022) he has played at Lucknow, a venue in his home state of Uttar Pradesh

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Mumbai-based middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer's score in India's lone ODI at the Ekana Stadium, Lucknow