What

The second One-Day International of the five-match series between India and England

When

October 17, 2011. The game begins at 14:30 pm, IST. The match is a day-night affair

Where

Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi. The Kotla track has traditionally favoured spin bowling in the longer format of the game. In ODI cricket, too, the wicket at this venue has been slowish in nature with the ball not coming on to the bat as easily as batsmen would like it to. Having said that, India have not lost a game at the Feroz Shah Kotla since they beat England by 39 runs in March 2006.

The Teams

India won the opening encounter convincingly but there are areas they could improve upon. Ajinkya Rahane and Parthiv Patel have only one-half century each in their last six ODI innings. Should both of them get out early, as they did in the Hyderabad ODI, it would once again put pressure on the Indian middle-order to rescue the side after a disappointing start. The bowling department also could do better. R Vinay Kumar and Umesh Yadav bowled only 10 overs between themselves in Hyderabad. And while Yadav (2/32) impressed in his five overs in that match, Vinay Kumar, with two wickets from his last four ODI appearances for India, could do with a far better showing in the next ODI.

England, admittedly, have bigger problems. Their batsmen struggled to counter the Indian spinners in Hyderabad. And on a Feroz Shah Kotla wicket that is sure to assist the Indian spinners, the visitors will pretty much have the odds against them. Ian Bell, a good player of spin, could be drafted into the side to address England’s problems in this area. Another issue dogging England was the ordinary form of their pacers in the opening game. Tim Bresnan, Steven Finn and Jade Dernbach went for 191 runs in the 29 overs bowled by them (economy-rate 6.59). Dernbach, with 58 runs off his 10 overs, was the least expensive of the lot, but, perhaps, Alastiar Cook could opt for legspinner Scott Borthwick to add more variety to his attack.

Trivia:

The last side to beat India in India in a series (of minimum three matches) after losing the first match was Pakistan in 2004-05. After losing the first two matches, Pakistan won four on the trot.

MS Dhoni now needs just four sixes to displace Sachin Tendulkar from top in the list of batsmen hitting maximum ODI sixes on Indian soil. Interestingly Dhoni’s 68 sixes in India have come in 67 innings. Tendulkar, on the other hand, played 160 innings for his 71.

Venue Stats:

India – played - 15, won - 9, lost – 5, tied – 0, no result – 1

England – played - 3, won - 3, lost – 1, tied – 0, no result – 0

Highest total in an innings: West Indies 330/8 in 50.0 overs v Netherlands - February 28, 2011

Lowest total in an innings: Netherlands 115 all out in 31.3 overs v West Indies - February 28, 2011

Best individual score in an innings: Ricky Ponting (Australia) – 145 v Zimbabwe – April 11, 1998

Best bowling figures in an innings: Kemar Roach (West Indies) 8.3-0-27-6 v Netherlands - February 28, 2011

Average first innings score at Feroz Shah Kotla:

In D/N matches: 234 (in 5 matches)

In all matches: 242 (in 19 matches excluding abandoned Ind-SL match in Dec 2009)

Result summary at Feroz Shah Kotla:

Head-to-head:

Last ODI meeting between India and England at Feroz Shah Kotla: Mar 28, 2006

Brief scores: India 203 (46.4 overs) beat England 164 (38.1 overs) by 39 runs

Form guide (most recent listed first):

India: Won, Lost, Tied, Lost, Lost (1 win, 3 losses)

England: Lost, Won, Tied, Won, Won (1 loss, 3 wins)

The Squads:

India: MS Dhoni (c & wk), R Ashwin, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Gautam Gambhir, Praveen Kumar, R Vinay Kumar, Parthiv Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Varun Aaron, RA Jadeja, Manoj Tiwary, Sreenath Aravind, Rahul Sharma & Umesh Yadav

England: Alastair Cook (c), Jonathan Bairstow, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Scott Borthwick, Tim Bresnan, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Craig Kieswetter, Stuart Meaker, Samit Patel, Kevin Pietersen, Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott, Chris Woakes

All stats are as onOctober 16, 2011