Focus on Dhoni
Propped up by the massive series-levelling win in the second ODI, India will look to keep the momentum going when they go into the third one-dayer against England here on Saturday, hoping that skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's first match in his hometown will prove lucky.
After they fell short by mere nine runs in a high-scoring 326-run chase in Rajkot, India came back strongly in Kochi to level the series 1-1 with a 127-run win, their second highest margin of victory against England.
The manner in which the victory came for Dhoni's men gave a fresh lease of life to the struggling outfit and it would look to take the crucial lead going into Mohali and Dharamsala.
Another destructive innings by Dhoni (72 from 66 balls) coupled with Ravindra Jadeja's unbeaten 61 from 37 balls set the momentum after yet another top-order failure in Kochi as England choked in the 286-run chase.
But come Saturday, and it will be all about Dhoni when India play their first match at the skipper's home ground.
The World Cup-winning captain has an aura about himself at the newly-constructed JSCA International Stadium Complex in the south-western fringes of the city, like Sourav Ganguly has in Kolkata.
England's hope for a double, and a repeat of the 1984-85 series, where they won both the Tests and ODIs, would largely depend on how Kevin Pietersen performs in the next three ODIs.
SQUADS
INDIA (from): Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt and wk), Ajinkya Rahane, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Shami Ahmed, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara Amit Mishra and Ashok Dinda.
ENGLAND (from)Alastair Cook (capt), Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Craig Kieswetter (wk), Samit Patel, Chris Woakes, James Tredwell, Steven Finn, Jade Dernbach, Tim Bresnan, Danny Briggs, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Stuart Meaker.
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