India vs England Live Score Cricket World Cup 2023: High-flying IND favourites to send defending champions ENG back home
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What may work for them – albeit just by that much – is that India are coming off a welcome break. They last played an ODI last Sunday where they beat New Zealand to break their ICC tournament jinx against the Kiwis before staying back in Dharamsala for a couple of days before reaching Lucknow earlier this week where they trained. The biggest news from their camp is of course, the unavailability of Hardik Pandya, who has not recovered for today's game or the one on Thursday against Sri Lanka in Mumbai.
Hardik's injury, which apparently was considered to be not more than a sprain in the ankle is now believed to be a Grade 1 ligament tear, which needs approximately another 5-6 days to heal. The fact that Hardik has resumed bowling and training at the NCA is a huge positive but just when will he attain full fitness remains to be seen.
Hardik's injury has thrown open the team combinations. India gave a go to Mohammed Shami against New Zealand and he responded with a five-wicket haul. But the surface today at the Ekana promises to be nothing like the one in Dharamsala. Lucknow is slow and low, and with the addition of black soil, which highly benefits the spinners, India are expected to fall back on Ravichandran Ashwin. With England's campaign already in tatters, India will hope to go for the jugular with their spin trio of Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav. It's unfair to drop Shami after his heroics last Sunday so it is likely that either Mohammed Siraj will be rested, with the Shami-Bumrah pair expected to lead the pace attack. The visuals of Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill rolling their arms over indicate that one of them might step up with their right-arm medium if the need arises.
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India, the only unbeaten team in the tournament, were displaced from the top of the table by South Africa the day before, but have the opportunity to claim back the pinnacle of the list again today. They have played a game less than the Proteas and seek victory against a team that not only is the defending champion but one they lost to at last year's T20 World Cup semifinal. A league stage face-off may not provide the ideal opportunity for revenge but a victory will undoubtedly bring a sense of satisfaction and redemption following India's crushing 10-wicket defeat to England last October. The current England team bears little resemblance to the dominant force that made them double World Champions and the opportunity is ripe for India to seize the advantage, with the remnants of England's former glory waiting to be exploited.