London, Sept 9: England won the toss at The Oval and elected to bowl first in the third ODI of the five-match ODI series. The hosts currently lead the series 1-0 making this a crucial game for India; a loss here will rule out the possibility of a series-win for the visitors.
Both sides have made changes to their playing eleven. While Jonathan Trott replaces Samit Patel in the England squad, RP Singh and Ravindra Jadeja have come into the Indian team for Vinay Kumar and Manoj Tiwary respectively.
Captain speak:
Alastair Cook (England)
On opting to bowl first given that the pitch is grassy: “It is going to play well but it’s quite hard to defend here later on in the game.”
On the team: “We feel we can cover all the bases with this squad; we don’t need anyone else at the moment so it gives another opportunity to Ravi [Bopara] to show what kind of player he is.”
MS Dhoni (India)
On preferring to chase: “We wouldn’t have minded chasing. [It] looks like a good wicket, [it has a] little bit of green so the seamers may get something.”
On the inclusion of Ravindra Jadeja: “He is a very good left-arm spinner and he can definitely bat down the order so [it] gives us that stability, having the fifth bowler. Whenever he has played, more often than not, [he has] finished his full quota of ten overs.”
On the absence of an all-rounder: “It is a setback; we have been struggling to find a seaming all-rounder. With Jadeja coming in and a few other part-timers in the side, it gives me a bit more resources to manoeuvre around with the ball.”
Playing XIs:
England: AN Cook (c), C Kieswetter (wk), IJL Trott, IR Bell, RS Bopara, BA Stokes, TT Bresnan, GP Swann, SCJ Broad, JM Anderson, JW Dernbach
India: AM Rahane, PA Patel, R Dravid, V Kohli, SK Raina, MS Dhoni (c,wk), RA Jadeja, R Ashwin, P Kumar, MM Patel, RP Singh
