The England tour of India will resume on January 11, 2013. England will play India in five one day international matches. England beat India in the Test series 2-1 and drew the T20 series 1-1 and now has a chance to beat the Indians in the One day series as well.
The first game is scheduled to be played at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot. The game shall start at 1200 local time and 0630 GMT.
The Indian team has lacked consistency for quite some time now and has not been able to string in a set of victories in any format of the game.
India will be entering this series after losing a home series to Pakistan and a Test series to England. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the only batsman who showed glimpses of form, while none of the other batsmen clicked. It was a haphazard and listless performance by the Indians.
New names on the international stage such as Ajinkya Rahane and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have managed to give the established players run for their money and are making them fight for their places in the team. We could see them making appearances in this series as well.
England will be hoping to capitalize on the dented confidence of the Indian players as they enter this bilateral series with a fully fit squad. After tasting success in India less than a month ago, the English will be raring to play against the Indians and inflict more misery on the opponents.
Stuart Broad will be giving loads of youngsters a chance to prove themselves in this match and is expected to experiment quite a bit as well. Steven Finn will be one of the bowlers to watch.
Given the earlier start to the game, dew may not have too much of a say and so the captain winning the toss could look to bat first and set a formidable total. However, even for a team bowling second under lights, it should not be too much of an issue.
This game will set the tone for the rest of the series as both teams will be looking to start with victories.
Prediction: India to take a lead in the series, winning this game.