Defending champions England face crunch clash with imperious India

India are set to face England in their sixth group stage match of the ODI World Cup 2023.

India, the only unbeaten team in the tournament, will be up against the defending champions, who are tottering in the bottom half of the table after a horrid start to their campaign.
India will hope for a sixth straight win to take over the top position from South Africa. The team will be playing at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Vihari Bayjapee Stadium on Sunday.

England themselves have uttered multiple times that the mathematical equation left gives them little hope with head coach Matthew Mott, skipper Jos Buttler and assistant coach Marcus Trescothick echoing each other’s thoughts. Having resigned to their fate already, the clash now has been dimmed of some shine.

Nevertheless, what it now could offer both teams some look ahead at individual gameplans and overall strategy despite not being a dead rubber, technically. India, without Hardik Pandya, would rest easy now given that they’ve won five games on the trot, but will be wary of reclaiming that form after a five-day break between games.

Predicted XIs of both teams –

India – Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj

England – Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (c & wk), Liam Livingstone, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood and Brydon Carse.

IND vs ENG head-to-head record:

Matches played: 106

India won: 57

England won: 44

No Result: 3

Tied: 2

Last result: India won by 5 wickets (2022)