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India vs England, 3rd ODI Preview: Rampaging India eye clean sweep against struggling England






The series being in India’s pocket, the hosts would now like to test their combination in the third ODI against England at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. However, this match would be the last ODI before the ICC Champions Trophy in June, so not much of a dead rubber for India.



India were brilliant in the first two ODIs in Pune and Cuttack by registering wins by three wickets and 15 runs respectively. In the first one-dayer, Virat Kohli and Kedar Jadhav dazzled by putting up a 200-run stand and leading India in chase of 350. In the Cuttack ODI, it was Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni on display as the old guns revived India from a precarious position of 25 for 3 to 381/6 with a 256-run partnership.



Yuvraj scored his 14th hundred and Dhoni his 10th and first after relinquishing captaincy. 


The match also gives Kohli and the team management to analyse the best possible combination going into the Champions Trophy, with India next playing an one-off Test against Bangladesh, followed by a four-Test series against Australia.



India do have an injury concern in Shikhar Dhawan and might sit out in the third match. Moreover, the left-handed batsman is struggling for form with scores of 1 and 11 from both the matches. Ajinkya Rahane becomes an automatic choice as an opener, who had a poor series against New Zealand but can stake a claim with an impressive show in the final match.



The bowlers can’t be blamed with the 50-over format now becoming more batsmen-friendly. It was also good to see Ravichandran Ashwin getting out of the defensive mould by returning with three wickets from the last match.



On the contrary, England have not done that bad either, especially in the batting department by being able to score 350- plus in both the matches. It has been their inexperienced bowling on flat tracks, hurting their campaign. Eoin Morgan, Joe Root, Jason Roy and Ben Stokes been in sublime form for the visitors.



With nothing to lose, England would be eyeing nothing less than a win but on the other hand Kohli has said there would be no drop in intensity from his team and players. The match is expected to be another high-scoring one with the Eden track being flat and bereft of any grass.






Source:India.com
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