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England win toss, elect to bowl
March 28, 2006 09:23 IST
Last Updated: March 28, 2006 09:59 IST
England [Images] captain Andrew Flintoff [Images] won the toss and elected to field in the first One-Day International against India at the Ferozeshah Kotla in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Gautam Gambhir [Images] will open the Indian innings with Virender Sehwag [Images], as regular opener Sachin Tendulkar [Images] had to miss the series because of a shoulder injury that required surgery.
The Uttar Pradesh trio of Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina and R P Singh were also included in the eleven.
India opted for three pacers and a spinner in Harbhajan Singh [Images].
England were again forced to field an inexperienced bowling attack in James Anderson, Kabir Ali and Liam Plunkett.
Matthew Hoggard [Images], who rocked the Indians in the Test series with a haul of 13 wickets in three Tests, was left out.
Flintoff's decision to bowl first hardly came as a surprise, as the pitch is expected to help the seamers in the first hour of play.
England beat India by 212 runs in the third Test at Mumbai to draw the series 1-1.
Teams:
India: Rahul Dravid [Images] (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh [Images], Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni [Images] (wk), Irfan Pathan [Images], S Sreesanth [Images], Harbhajan Singh, and Rudra Pratap Singh.
England: Andrew Flintoff (captain), Andrew Strauss [Images], Owais Shah, Matt Prior [Images], Kevin Pietersen [Images], Paul Collingwood [Images], Geraint Jones, Ian Blackwell, Liam Plunkett, Kabir Ali and James Anderson.
Umpires: Asad Rauf and A V Jayaprakash.
TV Umpire: K Hariharan [Images].
Match Referee: Roshan Mahanama.