English cricket team arrives to warm welcome

Hyderabad, Oct 4 (INN): It will be a unique battle for vengeance when Hyderabad hosts the first ODI between India and the visiting England team at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on October 15.

The team, led by Alistair Cook arrived to a warm welcome in the city on Tuesday morning. Whisked away by the security personnel soon after their landing, the English team straight away made it to their hotel, amid heavy downpour.

For most of the day, the players stayed indoors. The team, including Andy Flower on his first full-fledged overseas mission as a full-time coach, is likely to make an inspection of the ground Wednesday afternoon.

The series is expected to be a close one. England would be hoping to cash in the frenzied form that they displayed while making mincemeat of the Indian team in the recently held Test and One-day series in their backyard.

Cook will be hoping that his team of young and experienced would continue from where they left while regaining the top Test ranking in international cricket. Led by the wily Strauss, England demolished India while inflicting the most humiliating drubbing on an Indian team that was short on all elements of the game.

Mahender Singh Dhoni, smarter after the drubbing, will be keen on settling scores and win back the wholehearted following that his team enjoys back home.

India would be strengthened with the return of Gautam Gambhir, whose comeback outing in the ongoing Champions League has been `pretty satisfactory.' Of course, Gambhir has not hit the form for which he is dreaded and for which he was the most prized catch in I

Meanwhile, administrators at the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) are leaving no stone unturned while going al-out to produce what they term as the best `ODI track.'

Although it has been raining intermittently for the past 36 hours, the groundsmen are keeping the wickets covered. Three of the five newly laid pitches are being a renewed look because they will host two of the friendly matches that England will play on October 8 and 11.

The practise matches would be against teams constituted by the HCA and will mostly comprise of young international hopefuls from Hyderabad. The third pitch will be the one on which the ODI series will get underway.

Meanwhile, all eyes will be on the mercurial Kevin Pietersen, the man who lends solidity to the English batting order. The selectors sprang a surprise, and caught India on the back-foot, when they included Pietersen in the 17-member squad.

The shocking aspect is that for all his talent, Pietersen has not played an ODI match since his last outing against West Indies in 2009. The selectors have reposed immense faith in him simply because of his excellent track-record against India and the psychological advantage his presence will have in the dressing room.

Dhoni will be hoping to see his boys return to form that saw them win the World Cup this year. Even he knows that this is the best time for redemption. One good series and the humiliation in England would be out of the public mind.