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India have won the toss and elected to bat first, it seems to be batting friendly pitch, so Rahul Dravid choose to bat without any second thought.Both side have made changes to their side, England have called in Andrew Flintoff for Chris Tremlett, while Paul Collingwood has been declared fit for today’s game.

For India Ajit Agarkar has replaced Munaf Patel. It would be interesting to see who comes in at no.3 for India today, because India have sent 3 different batsmen to bat at this position in last three odi consecutively.

England is leading 7 match one day series by 2-1, so far they have played good cricket, even in the game they lost, they had given fight till last over, on the other side India have failed to perform what they are capable of, they are still struggling with their fielding and batsmen are not producing good knocks consistently.

Day & Night encounter between India and England will be played at Old Trafford, Manchester. India will have to bounce back in 4th ODI of NatWest Series to level the series. India have more issues to resolve than their opponent England.England have one good news and one bad news, well, good news is that Andrew Flintoff is expected to play 4th ODI at his home ground, and bad news is that England captain Paul Collingwood missed the entire practice session today.

India may field the same XI in 4th ODI as well, it seems highly unlikely to see Robin Uthapa or Gautam Gambhir replaces any batsmen in the squad, only possibility to get them in the side if India decide to go with 7 batsmen formula.

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England have scored 281 runs in 50 overs, Ian Bell continued his great form in this one day series by scoring 79 runs in 89 balls.

For India RP Singh took 3 wickets for 55 runs and Ramesh Powar took 2 wickets, while Munaf, Chawla & Yuvraj took one wicket each.

In reply of that India have scored 149 runs for 4 wickets in 32 overs

Update:
India won 2nd ODI and series is level now with five more matches to go, India struggled to keep England under pressure through out the match.

Second ODI between India and England will be played on 24th August, at Bristol, it is going to be a day night one day international. England won first ODI at Rose Bowl by 104 runs, and already gained 1-0 series lead in 7 match one day series. England dominated first one day in all departments of game, while India were pathetic, especially in their fielding and batting. Once again their most experienced batting line up failed miserably against England’s comparatively inexperienced bowling attack (except Flintoff), Indian batsmen failed to take advantage of their inexperience bowling attack.

India will have lot to think about before the 2nd one day match, they will definitely have to improve their fielding, which was below par during first ODI. Munaf Patel’s fitness will also going to be crucial for Indians since he has been the most economic bowler in one day format for India lately. In my opinion India should play Romesh Powar instead of Piyush Chawla.

In batting department India have lot to think about, Gautam Gambhir is not best option as a no.3 batsmen, he is good as an opener. He should open with Sachin or Sourav and an experience batsmen should come at no.3, who can rotate the strike and stabilize the inning at no.3. Most of the countries send their top batsmen at this position, Australia send Pointing, Sri Lanka opt with Sangakara and South Aftrica send Kallis at this position.

In my opinion India should go with only 6 specialist batsmen, so that they can have luxury of playing 5 bowlers. Option of five bowlers is better than having 2-3 non regular bowlers to bowl fifth bowler’s quota.

As far as England is concern, they will keep the same XI for second ODI, they only have to continue from where they have left. They played excellent cricket in last match. Bad news for England is that their prime bowler Sidebottom has been ruled out for two more ODIs, but the way England bowlers are troubling Indian batsmen, they won’t feel his absence.

Being an Indian cricket team fan, I hope that India will bounce back in second one day match at Bristol. As far as Indian team for second ODI is concerned, in my opinion, they should drop Gambhir and give Robin Uthappa a chance since he is very aggressive batsmen and in bowling department Romesh Powar should replace Piyush Chawala and Munaf instead of RP Singh. I will still back Ajit Agarkar who is playing only one day for last 2 years or so, he can bounce back any time.

Size of ground for second odi is comparatively small, thick edge can fly over to third man for six, pitch here at Bristol is usually a high scoring one, if it plays true, then we will have run feast tomorrow. Bristol is happy hunting ground for Sachin Tendulkar, who score two centuries in two matches he played here, interesting thing is that on both occasion he came at no.4 for India.

Latest worry for India is that, Tendulkar, Yuvraj, Zaheer Khan, Agarkar and RP Sing missed practice a day before match due to flu and body ache, and good news is that Munaf Patel looked fit during practice session.

India must bounce back in this match at Bristol to level the series. Second ODI is also going to be a day night match.

As always you can enjoy live score here . Feel free to post a comment or two on what you think about India’s chances in second ODI.

I will also keep you posted about 4th ODI between India & England going to be played at Old Trafford, Manchester