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| Mahendra Singh Dhoni |
Northampton: Mahendra Singh Dhoni is expected to lead the team as captain Rahul Dravid will rest for the warm-up one-day match against England Lions here Saturday.
The Jharkhand wicketkeeper-batsman has been named captain for the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 meet in South Africa next month.
The visitors will once again to be without Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan against a strong home team that includes Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara and Owais Shah, all of whom have been named in England’s one-day squad.
Sourav Ganguly, who missed the ODI along with Tendulkar and Zaheer, is likely to be back in action.
The Indians had a comfortable 7-wicket win against Scotland in Glasgow Thursday.
Promising Mumbai player Rohit Sharma is also likely to get a chance.
Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa will continue to open the innings while Sourav may come in at No. 3.
Ajit Agarkar, Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla and Ramesh Powar will form the bowling combination.
Having won the Test series, India outclassed Scotland with the bowlers doing a decent job. Gambhir and Uthappa then had a good opening partnership, notching up sparkling half centuries.
While Scotland was a team lacking in both class and experience, on Saturday India will be squaring up against an opponent that is packed with promising players all but one of whom have played for England.
The team is led by the dashing Vikram Solanki, who has been named in England’s side for the ICC World Twenty20.
Also England’s 36-year old wicketkeeper Paul Nixon will try and make his presence felt along with Tim Bresnan, James Kirtley, Jason Lewis, Darren Maddy, and Jeremy Snape.
TEAMS
India (likely): Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Ajit Agarkar, Piyush Chawla, Ramesh Powar, Munaf Patel.
England Lions (from): Vikram Solanki (Captain), Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, James Kirtley, Jon Lewis, Darren Maddy, Paul Nixon, Chris Schofield, Owais Shah, Jeremy Snape, Luke Wright.
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