Paul Collingwood and Rahul Dravid

Bristol: Team India were faced with a fitness crisis ahead of the crucial second one-dayer against England on Friday with three key players — Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan and Rudra Pratap Singh — apparently down with flu.

The trio failed to turn up for the practice session on Thursday and with the team management remaining non-committal on their availability, speculation was rife was that they could miss Friday’s day-night encounter.

The team management said the players were rested as a precautionary measure and a decision would be taken early on Friday.

Sachin Tendulkar and Ajit Agarkar, too, gave the nets a miss. They came to the ground but left without practising.

Zaheer and Rudra Pratap were the two bowlers to come off with some respect from the first ODI while the others were taken to the cleaners as India lost by 104 runs.

Captain Rahul Dravid urged his team to shrug off their disappointment and look for ways to improve in every department. He also hinted at a possible change not only in the batting order but also in the team combination.

“We will keep thinking about how we can improve. When you don’t get the results, you have to look at your side and consider who are the guys that are playing well, whether they should be playing up the order or not,” Dravid said.

“We will definitely re-think our team, our batting order, our combinations, everything.”

After their heavy defeat at the Rose Bowl, Dravid had said: “We didn’t come to the party at all. We were outbatted, outbowled and outfielded and we’ve got to play a lot better if we want to stay in the series.”

The visitors have to do a lot of soul searching regarding their bowling. After their remarkable success in the three Tests, the bowlers have suddenly gone off the boil.

The signs were evident when the unfancied England Lions smashed 296 in the warm-up game before England made their plight look worse as they cruised to 288 for two.

Both Alastair Cook and Ian Bell, who cracked maiden centuries, milked the Indian bowling around the park and had them in complete disarray. The duo pierced the field regularly and ran brilliantly between wickets.

The batsmen went after leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, besides targeting part-timers Sachin and Yuvraj.

“It was one of our best performances for some time,” said England ODI captain Paul Collingwood.

“The way the batters went about it… Positive right through. I think we’ve had such phases in the past but we’re looking for consistency”, Collingwood said.

“It was a kind of perfect game. It’s a great start for us but we need to continue with that rhythm and momentum.”

While the Indians have to sort out whom to bowl in the middle overs, they also have to make sure they back their bowlers with some tidy work in the field.

With quite a few old guards around, one doesn’t expect livewires in the field. Yet, the overall fielding standards left a lot to be desired and the Indians have to be on their toes to compliment their bowlers.

“Fielding isn’t our strong area and we’re not going to develop strong arms and athletic legs overnight. But... What we must do is not make stupid mistakes while running between the wickets. That’s something we can definitely avoid,” said Dravid.

England had plenty of it in the way Andrew Flintoff went about his business. Coming back after a three-month lay off from injury, Flintoff showed why he is capable of making such a huge impact with a hostile spell of bowling that made the Indians hop and skip.

TEAMS

India (from): Rahul Dravid (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ramesh Powar, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Sreesanth, Piyush Chawla, Robin Uthappa, Munaf Patel and Rohit Sharma.

England (from): Paul Collingwood (captain), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravinder Bopara, Chris Broad, Alastair Cook, Andrew Flintoff, Dimitry Mascarenhas, Monty Panesar, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Owais Shah, Ryan Sidebottom and Chris Tremlett.

Match starts: 7.00 pm (IST)

(AGENCIES)

BRISTOL NUGGETS

India have a pretty good record in Bristol, winning both their matches at this venue. England have played four, losing two and winning the rest. The following are a few highlights of the matches staged here:

First ODI — NZ bt SL by 5 wkts (June 13, 1983)

Last ODI — Eng bt Aus by 3 wkts (June 19, 2005)

Total ODIs — 9

Highest total

329/2 (50 ovs) — India vs Kenya (May 23, 1999)

Highest total (hosts)

268/4 (50 ovs) — Eng vs Aus (June 10, 2001)

Lowest total

92 (24.5 ov) — Zim vs Eng (July 6, 2003)

100s — Five (3 are by Indian batsmen)

Highest score — 140* (101 balls) by Sachin Tendulkar (India vs Kenya, May 23, 1999)

Most runs — 253 @ 253.00 in 2 matches by Sachin Tendulkar (Ind)

Best bowling — 5/25 (10.1 ovs) by Richard Hadlee (NZ vs SL, June 13, 1983)

Best bowling (hosts) — 5/33 (10 ovs) by Steve Harmison (Eng vs Aus, June 19, 2005)

Best bowling (Ind) — 4/46 (10 ovs) by Harbhajan Singh (Ind vs SL, July 11, 2002)

Most wkts — 7 (@ 22.00) in 4 matches by Darren Gough (Eng)

Avg. first innings totals — 239

Wins batting first — 3

Wins batting second — 6

Avg. runs scored — 33.58 runs per wicket

Wickets by pacers — 92

Wickets by spinners — 16