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It couldn’t have got more obvious than this. With the series already sealed, India have nothing more than a total reversal of fortune on their minds and England are looking to just about justify their complete rule over India during the summer.
The body language of both the sides on the eve of the fourth ODI on Sunday here at Wankhede Stadium said as much too. While the English training session started with a whole-team conference right on the ground, with coach Andy Flower playing the part of the motivator, trying to instil confidence in his troops that the war might be lost, there were still some battles to be won to exit the field on a high.
They might have lorded over a visiting India comprehensively in the Test as well as the ODI series some time back. But the tables could not have turned more rapidly on the World Champs beaters as they started harbouring dreams to change cricket’s world order. Alas, they forgot that home advantage was fickle thing and changed hands frequently.
Soon, the swing-friendly tracks of England were replaced by customary Indian batting heavens. That was enough for the then visitors now hosts, India, to stake claim to regain the lost footing. Mumbai and Kolkata being a mere formality now, the Indian bunch’s routine work on the eve didn’t have that hurried look about it. England got down to business right from the word go, with the bowlers hardly leaving it to the net bowlers and the bats trying various variations with much urgency.
Indians, however, chose to grace the waiting spectators by turning up in batches to go about their rounds. While the likes of Abhimanyu Mithun and Ajinkya Rahane spent quality time at the nets, among the senior lot, Gautam Gambhir was the lone one to divide his time equally between shot practice and fielding. If MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli did the customary and left, Gambhir stuck around till the very end, probably looking to play his part to a hilt before giving Kolkata ODI a skip for his wedding.
Rahane, who set the stage for victory at Mohali with his 91, would look to come out equally good in his first international in front of his home crowd as well. Mithun, meanwhile, showed every glimpse of being ready to play his part as Umesh Yadav fell victim to an injury in the previous game. With R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja more than ready to exploit a slower track here, the fifth bowling option leaves a place for Varun Aaron, in case he could pip Mithun for that as Vinay Kumar should not have a problem in keeping his spot beside Praveen Kumar.
With India being in a position to shuffle the pack and give the young guns a chance to fire, the mere temptation of doing unto England what they did to them, India could rather go the tried and tested way. And, with the tempers already fraying in the series, Dhoni would definitely not want to give the visitors and their home media any chance to gain an upper hand.
England, would, however, just look to rise above the frustrations that have settled in due to the helplessness on the sub-continent tracks.
The body language of both the sides on the eve of the fourth ODI on Sunday here at Wankhede Stadium said as much too. While the English training session started with a whole-team conference right on the ground, with coach Andy Flower playing the part of the motivator, trying to instil confidence in his troops that the war might be lost, there were still some battles to be won to exit the field on a high.
They might have lorded over a visiting India comprehensively in the Test as well as the ODI series some time back. But the tables could not have turned more rapidly on the World Champs beaters as they started harbouring dreams to change cricket’s world order. Alas, they forgot that home advantage was fickle thing and changed hands frequently.
Soon, the swing-friendly tracks of England were replaced by customary Indian batting heavens. That was enough for the then visitors now hosts, India, to stake claim to regain the lost footing. Mumbai and Kolkata being a mere formality now, the Indian bunch’s routine work on the eve didn’t have that hurried look about it. England got down to business right from the word go, with the bowlers hardly leaving it to the net bowlers and the bats trying various variations with much urgency.
Indians, however, chose to grace the waiting spectators by turning up in batches to go about their rounds. While the likes of Abhimanyu Mithun and Ajinkya Rahane spent quality time at the nets, among the senior lot, Gautam Gambhir was the lone one to divide his time equally between shot practice and fielding. If MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli did the customary and left, Gambhir stuck around till the very end, probably looking to play his part to a hilt before giving Kolkata ODI a skip for his wedding.
Rahane, who set the stage for victory at Mohali with his 91, would look to come out equally good in his first international in front of his home crowd as well. Mithun, meanwhile, showed every glimpse of being ready to play his part as Umesh Yadav fell victim to an injury in the previous game. With R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja more than ready to exploit a slower track here, the fifth bowling option leaves a place for Varun Aaron, in case he could pip Mithun for that as Vinay Kumar should not have a problem in keeping his spot beside Praveen Kumar.
With India being in a position to shuffle the pack and give the young guns a chance to fire, the mere temptation of doing unto England what they did to them, India could rather go the tried and tested way. And, with the tempers already fraying in the series, Dhoni would definitely not want to give the visitors and their home media any chance to gain an upper hand.
England, would, however, just look to rise above the frustrations that have settled in due to the helplessness on the sub-continent tracks.
