Preview: India Eye Semis Berth As England Stand On Brink Of World Cup Exit

Unbeaten India will look to book their semi-finals berth and further derail England’s chances, when the two sides face-off at the World Cup 2019 league match at the Edgbaston in Birmingham on Sunday. The pre-tournament favourites India and England have started their respective campaigns on contrasting note. While India are a win away from making it to the top four, a loss for England will put them on the brink of World Cup 2019 exit. Interestingly, the hosts have already lost their top ODI spot to India, owing to their poor performances in the last two matches.

England, despite coming into the World Cup as the top-ranked side in one-day internationals, have lost three pool matches, including their last two, against Sri Lanka and reigning champions Australia.

To make matters worse for the home side, England opener Jonny Bairstow has found himself involved in a public row with former captain Michael Vaughan, who labelled his fellow Yorkshire cricketer’s claim that people are waiting for the hosts to fail at the World Cup “negative” and “pathetic”.

England’s white-ball revival from the depths of their first-round exit at the 2015 World Cup was built on aggressive top-order batting that saw them compile huge totals.

But they have been unable to adjust their game on the more bowler-friendly surfaces at this World Cup, where lower totals and a more old-fashioned approach of not losing early wickets and then accelerating has been the policy of successful sides such as Australia.

Now they are set to face India’s spinners on an Edgbaston pitch that generally provides more turn than any other World Cup venue.

England’s two most recent defeats have coincided with the absence through a hamstring injury of Jason Roy, with replacement James Vince struggling to fill the gap left by the Surrey opener.

Vince is only in the squad because England ditched regular back-up batsman Alex Hales for a second positive test for recreational drug use — a decision taken on the grounds of maintaining team “culture” that they could live to regret.

“We know we can perform better as a group and Jason is a fantastic player to have available. It would be a boost to have him play ” England’s Jos Buttler said at Edgbaston on Friday.

Buttler said the side were capable of handling the stresses of tournament play, saying “pressure is a privilege”.

Adding to England’s problems are injury fears over fast bowler Jofra Archer (side) and leg-spinner Adil Rashid (shoulder), while Sunday’s match may well feel like an away game given India fans could constitute the majority of the Edgbaston crowd.

Squads:

England: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan(c), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(w), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Liam Plunkett, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Tom Curran, Mark Wood, James Vince, Liam Dawson

India: Lokesh Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (capt), Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rishabh Pant, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja