ALEXANDER LENKY: “Bat first? Is this Morgs Nasser moment?”
Arif Sheikh: “”England won the toss and bat first.” Am I reading it right? or Is there any typo?” — You’re not the only one who is surprised. Morgan was pretty certain that he expects the pitch to get worse as the day progressed. Wonder if last night’s rain had anything to do with that decision.
saurabh: “Amidst all this hoopla about kuldeep, what no one is talking about is how even without him indian batting looks good enough to beat eng at their own game. We are still the original flat track bullies!”
10.33am England win the toss, and bat first.
Morgan: “Can be a difficult pitch, but looks like a belter. Want to put a good score and hope the pitch deteriorates. The more we face Kuldeep, the clearer we’ll get on how to play spin. Our bowlers have performed well against the best players in the past, so hope they do the same. Unchanged team.“
Kohli: “pretty happy to chase, we didn’t even need to come for the toss (laughs). The new ball always does things early up, so hopefully our pacers can deliver. Kuldeep and Chahal are doing a great job in the middle order, but pace will be the key. The World Cup is too far ahead. The reason we’re playing good cricket is because we’re staying in the present. We love England, magnificent crowds, weather has been brilliant. Doesn’t feel like we’re away. Can’t complain at Lord’s. Same squad.“
10.28am Ravi Bopara and VVS Laxman are in the ESPNcricinfo studios today and building up to the first ball. Head over to our MATCH DAY show to hear from them.
Mark: “Just a left field thought: maybe giving India turning tracks to play on is the best possible thing that England can do. It is the big hole in the CV of the batsmen and the more experience that they get playing the best on turning tracks, the better, even if it means the occasional defeat.”
10.25am Pitch report: The pitch has some live grass, but remains pretty dry. Perfect batting conditions, with one end of the square boundary smaller than the other. ‘A beautiful sheen on it’, quips Alan Wilkins, and there should be some bounce for the wristspinners to make use of.
10.22am The Indian captain has checked-in at Lord’s, and the guy who waved his shirt from the balcony 16 years ago……well, he was seen queuing up to enter. We’ve got our LIVE REPORT up and running too, with Shashank Kishore at the helm.
Brendan Graham: “The chasing team is now 4-0 in the England leg of India’s tour. Is this a fluke or a legitimate statistical advantage (like going first in a penalty shootout)? ” — When the pitch stays the same for almost 100 overs in a game, then knowing the target makes batting pretty easy. And with the team batting first knowing that the surface will remain true all day, they try and go too hard. When it clicks, a 350+ score is good enough batting first, but more often than not, teams fall short by 20-25 runs, and that’s merely par in England. It’s an unfair correlation to the penalties though, I think. If one team took all five shots, and then the second team took their five, then your correlation holds. Imagine the pressure on team 2 if team 1 scored 4 of the 5 penalties.
10.15am Nagraj Gollapudi reports from Lord’s that India may just continue resting Bhuvi today. He’s not training. George Dobell says that England are likely to field an unchanged XI. There was a lot of overnight rain as well, but it’s bright and sunny today.
Aditya: “Bhuvi in for umesh will be a good move Sid kaul deserves another go at the england line up specially in the death overs ” — Agree with you that Sid Kaul deserves another go, but Umesh assures you a fiery first spell. And extra pace like Umesh’s, with the sloping Lord’s surface, could be trouble for England’s top order.
Snehil: “To those who think that once the mystery sheds off Kuldeep would become another Mendis, think again. Yes, there is an element of mystery about him but at his core he is a classical wristspinner who puts the ball in good areas, varies his speed and uses his guile to get the batsman out. Hence, there are talks going on about his Test inclusion.” — And Virat Kohli agrees with your sentiment. Here’s more from the India captain.
10am The big news for India is that Bhuvneshwar Kumar should return to the XI today.
Pratik: “Can India be #1 if they win this series? 3-0 Or 2-1?” — A 3-zip series win would lift India to 1st and relegate England to 2nd.
Prafull ranjan: “SA’s struggle against spin in SL has surprised us a lot. Let’s hope England doesn’t follow their footsteps. Let it be a cracker of a match.” — Yep, England know it as well as all of us. How they play the 20 overs of Indian spin will determine how today turns out. Play Buttler higher up, I say, and so does Deep Dasgupta (in conversation with Mel Farrell).
9.50am It’s a blockbuster weekend, with the Wimbledon and World Cup final to follow, but first it’s time for a potentially cracking day of cricket.
The world’s two best ODI teams face off once again, with a rather simple equation at stake. If England, the world No. 1 team, lose today, the series is done and dusted. A win for the hosts, and we’re in for a riveting finale to the series. But India – currently 5-1 in their tour of the British Isles – come in as favourites, and when they’re in rampaging form, it’s hard to stop their juggernaut. England face their true test of ODI skills today, and how they fare would determine the team’s character leading into 2019. This is ESPNcricinfo’s coverage of India’s tour of England, and today you’ve got Sreshth Shah and Andrew McGlashan for company.
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