PHOTO: SHAJU JOHN

LOCAL ATTRACTION: S. Sreesanth, who has impressed with his showing, will be expected to lead the Indian attack in home conditions.

KOCHI: India's successful run in the one-dayers is linked to the non-performance of the Englishmen though the team may disagree. It all depends on what dictates your perspective — short-term gains or long-term investments.

The true strength of the Indian team, with due credit to some young talent, remains obscured by the victories in the first three encounters of the seven-match series. These triumphs need to be evaluated appropriately given the state of the opposition.

England was expected to give India a tough time but the host has managed to play better cricket at the decisive stages in all the three matches.

Barring Australia, all teams have struggled overseas in the last decade and England is not an exception. The sub-continent has always presented unseen challenges and this England team, in the absence of a few key players, has come off as an inconsistent lot with its bowling looking mediocre in the limited-overs version.

Burden of captaincy

The youngsters have looked out of place and the skipper, Andrew Flintoff, clearly weighed down by the burden of captaincy, looks clueless. India was in a spot of bother at Delhi and Faridabad but then the home team was involved in experiments, which now seem justified. Greg Chappell would have presented a different countenance if England had not messed up its chances.

England may seek refuge in its past policy of restraint in playing one-day cricket but having agreed to a seven-match series it cannot hide behind excuses like heat, travelling, and contaminated air and food. Flintoff cannot be faulted on this front; he has been gracious in accepting defeat and acknowledging the supremacy of Rahul Dravid and his boys.

The overall cricket, however, has not justified the passionate support from the packed galleries. The low-scoring phenomena at Delhi and Faridabad can be attributed to the slow nature of the pitches. The art of making a pitch is one area the board needs to look into on a priority basis. In Daljit Singh, Venkat Sundaram, Kishore Pradhan and Narayan Satham it has curators who can prepare ideal tracks for both forms of the game.

Innovative approach

At Goa it was the amazingly innovative approach of Yuvraj Singh and the fast-improving Raina that changed the course of the contest. They scoffed at the field placements by finding gaps with ease.

Raina has tremendous promise, skill, temperament, and drive too, but is embarrassed by the comparisons to Sachin Tendulkar. It is certainly too early and certainly not justified against this English attack that Sunil Gavaskar would describe as `popatwadi' (club level).

Chappell talks of `spirit and energy' as the gains from this 3-0 lead but the Indians would do well to channel this strength. The selectors have marked specific roles for players and the plans have worked well thus far. Seniors like Virender Sehwag and Ajit Agarkar are an integral part of this scheme.

Sehwag is just an innings away from regaining his explosive posture and Agarkar is seen as a bowler who can take charge in the middle overs and provide breakthroughs. The team management would be happy if Agarkar takes three wickets even at the cost of 50 runs.

He is seen as the bowler for difficult stages. He remains a key figure in the attack. The fourth ODI may see the return of local star S. Sreesanth in place of Munaf Patel. The move is part of the team management's policy to seal the series on Thursday and then indulge in more experiments.

The pitch is expected to produce runs even though the curator, P. V. Ramachandran, cautioned the ball could keep slow and low in the second half.

The venue has been decked up for a cracker of a contest on Thursday with arrangements and facilities in place. In God's own country, one can be assured of an excellent environment, a refreshing departure from the chaos of Faridabad and Goa.

The teams (from): India: Rahul Dravid (capt.), Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, M.S. Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Venugopala Rao, Ramesh Powar, Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar, S. Sreesanth, Munaf Patel and R.P. Singh.

England: Andrew Flintoff (capt.), Andrew Stauss, Matt Prior, Kevin Pietersen, Owais Shah, Liam Plunkett, Geraint Jones, Paul Collingwood, Ian Blackwell, James Anderson, Matthew Hoggard, Ian Bell, Vikram Solanki, Sajid Mahmood, Kabir Ali and Gareth Batty.

Umpires: Rudi Koertzen and K. Hariharan; Third umpire: A.V. Jayaprakash; Fourth umpire: Samir Bandekar; Match Referee: Roshan Mahanama.

Hours of play: 9 a.m. to 12.40 p.m.; 1.25 p.m. onwards.

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