India showed they still remain a formidable one-day unit, irrespective of the conditions with that mammoth thumping of England in the second one-day international in Cardiff.
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The 3rd one-dayer scheduled to be played in Nottingham, is set for a 10.30 am local time (3 pm IST, 5.30 am ET) start with live coverage on TV on Star Sports 1, Star Sports 3 (in Hindi) and Star Sports HD1 in India. The match can also be watched via free live streaming online in India HERE.
The match will be shown live in the UK on Sky Sports 2, while viewers can also Live Stream the match in the UK HERE or HERE Listen to the ODI match via BBC Radio 5 Live HERE. The game will be live on ESPN3 in the US, while the action can also be Live Streamed HERE.
Come Saturday, India will want to ensure they don't suffer the post-Lord's blues again, with another emphatic win in the 3rd ODI at Trent Bridge.
Suresh Raina was the batsman extraordinaire in the second ODI, playing a wonderfully crafted and brutal 100 from just 75 deliveries to knock the stuffing out of England. Once India got to a score over 300 on a Cardiff pitch which was doing something for the faster bowlers, England had no answer via their batting.
"I felt really good scoring my first ODI century in three years," Raina told BCCI's official website. "I wanted to bring in fresh energy into the team, and I am glad I could do that with my performance.
"This knock is one of the most special ones for me given the circumstances and the conditions. We hadn't won the game in a long time and to help the team break that jinx with a century was very satisfying."
The medium pacers did their jobs early on for India, before the spinners, led by Ravindra Jadeja, finished the match off, bowling England out for a paltry 161.
Had it not been for a brilliant hundred from Raina, and the calmness of skipper MS Dhoni, though, India might have ended up with a score of around 200, rather than the 304 for six that they eventually got to.
The onus remains on the top three Indian batsmen to give their side a solid start, which has been made even more difficult after opener Rohit Sharma was ruled out of the rest of the series with a hand injury.
Murali Vijay has been called in as cover, but might not make it in time, leaving India to ponder on a couple of options.
Either they rope in Sanju Samson and ask him to bat at the top of the order on his debut, or give one of Samson or Ambati Rayudu a chance in the middle order by sending Ajinkya Rahane to bat with Shikhar Dhawan.
The latter seems more likely, and Rayudu is the expected candidate to fill in at No.4 or No.5, but it will certainly be interesting if the exciting Samson is given his chance. In the IPL and for India A and junior teams, the wicketkeeper/batsman has shown he has the ability to take on any bowler, and the confidence to back his abilities.
It still might be too early for Samson to have a run in the team, of course, but you will never know unless you give him a chance, and the 19-year-old certainly has shown the temperament to suggest he can succeed.
For England, there will be concerns in both the batting and bowling. While Alastair Cook looked a little laboured at the top, Alex Hales made an encouraging debut, and the right-hander will only improve given more opportunities.
"I've had to work really hard to show people I can be more than just a Twenty20 slogger," said Hales to ECB's official website. "I'm really happy this opportunity has come along.
"I think if we both play our natural games then hopefully that partnership will forge together," added Hales on his partnership at the top with captain Cook.
"The job of the top-four in one-day cricket is to get hundreds. Someone has to put their hand up and score a big hundred for the team. That's the role of the top four -- for someone to go big. Hopefully our games can feed off each other and we can get that big partnership going."
That top four, apart from a 40 from Hales, did little to nothing in the second ODI, and the likes of Cook, Ian Bell and Joe Root will be keen to make an impression in Nottingham on Saturday.
The bowling is also an area of concern for England, with all four of their medium pace options in the second ODI wearing a similar look. James Anderson, albeit in a different league, Chris Jordan, Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes are all right-arm bowlers of similar pace, and there was nobody there to give a little change to the lineup to trouble the Indian batsmen, who went gung-ho once settled.
Bringing in one of Steven Finn, with his express pace, or Harry Gurney, a left-armer, could be an option, with spinner James Tredwell, who was the pick of the bowlers in the second one-dayer, needing as much support at the other end as he can get.
Expected lineups: England: Alastair Cook (capt), Alex Hales, Ian Bell, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes, Chris Jordan, James Tredwell, James Anderson, Steven Finn.
India: Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (capt), Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Mohit Sharma.
