🏏England tour of India 2025: 2nd ODI: 09/02/25 at 1:30 PM IST🏏

🏏England tour of India 2025: 2nd ODI Barabati Stadium, Cuttack on 09/02/25 at 1:30 PM IST🏏

Who will make way for Kohli as India target series win?

There is an opportunity for both teams to use this series as a kind of laboratory ahead of the Champions Trophy

Kohli fit again

Cricketers. They're just like us, from having kadhi chawal for lunch to cueing up Netflix with dinner. This deeply normal kind of life may be beckoning a first-choice Indian team member as they continue on their Champions Trophy fact-finding mission.

Shreyas Iyer usually plays entertainer, and he did this on Thursday night, his stroke play containing everything but a backwards step even against extreme pace. He's got his IPL coach, Ricky Ponting, sitting bolt upright in his seat saying things like "If Shreyas is out in the middle, then he's as good as anyone" on the ICC review. India can't keep him on and bring Virat Kohli in and explore the possibilities that Yashasvi Jaiswal presents them as a left-handed, top-order basher. Someone will have to switch to being the one that gets entertained.

Despite their loss in Nagpur, England will be pleased with the work of Jacob Bethell, the 21-year-old displaying the kind of level-headedness that could prove invaluable over the coming weeks. Another ICC trophy comes up for grabs starting February 19 and although the pressure there will be significantly higher, this bilateral series, with the quality of players involved, should be able to replicate some of it.

Performances like Bethell's, or Shubman Gill's in the No. 3 role, or Axar Patel's as a disruptor at No. 5, are important beyond the context of winning and losing, because they offer exactly what all teams want going into a world event - options, a way to stand out, a way to surprise.

In the spotlight: Harry Brook and Virat Kohli

Ninety-one runs in six innings on tour is not the performance England wanted from a player in whom they have made a serious investment. Harry Brook plays all formats for them. He's captained them. And when on song, he absolutely smashes it for them, but once again he has been unable to find a repeatable and consistent method of handling high-quality spin on pitches that are slower than he is used to. Fifty-over cricket offers batters a little more time and Brook could leverage that to get himself back in form.

Harry Brook has struggled against spin on this tour

The last time Kohli batted for India, he left the field in a fury, mistaking his thigh for a punching bag. It is unlikely that he thinks he is in decline. At least not to the extent that things can't be turned around. His fans know things absolutely can turn around, and the switch in format could be just the break he needs to get the good times rolling again. India are weighing upsides. Iyer is already in form, and they know what he can do. If his making way means they get to arm an all-time great with game time and simultaneously find out if Jaiswal can be an asset in ODIs too, that's probably a win.

Pitch and conditions: A reprise of the 2017 thriller?

Cuttack hasn't hosted any ODIs in half a decade but when it last did, it presented itself as a batting paradise. India and England have already experienced these highs when they put up totals of 381 and 366 in 2017. The game is unlikely to come under any threat from the weather with clear skies expected; there might be dew though, given the temperature drops from 30C at 5pm to 23C at 9pm.

India vs England, IND vs ENG 2nd ODI Barabati Stadium Pitch Report And Cuttack Weather Forecast: India will look to seal the 3-match series against England when the two sides lock horns in the 2nd match at Cuttack on Sunday. With Virat Kohli set to return to the playing XI, all eyes will be on him and Rohit Sharma, both of whom have had a dismal last few months in the longest format.

With Kohli set to return, there will be a toss-up between Shreyas Iyer, who bailed India out of a tough spot in Nagpur with a crucial half century and Yashasvi Jaiswal on who will make the team. With the pitch expected to offer turn, India might be tempted to give Varun Chakravarthy a chance here.

Weather report for IND vs ENG

According to AccuWeather, the temperature is expected to hover around the early 30s throughout the day with the afternoon temperature expected to be 32 degrees which will make it pretty hot and humid. The temperature will have a steep drop in the evening, going down to 20 degrees while at night, it’ll be 18 degrees

Stats and trivia:

• In the last 20 years, England have beaten India in India only five times in 31 ODIs.
• Cuttack offers more or less equal help to pace (137 wickets at an average of 40.86 and economy rate of 5) and spin (88 wickets at an average of 36 and economy rate of 4.74).
• Gill has found incredible consistency in ODI cricket. He's been good enough to score a fifty roughly once every 2.4 innings.
• Jos Butter is such a regular, and rapid, run-scorer in this format that he's part of a pretty exclusive club: 5000 runs and a strike rate of 100-plus.

Team News:

India

Kohli's readiness to play leaves India with an intriguing selection call to make. Yashasvi Jaiswal was curiously accomodated in the Indian XI in Nagpur ahead of Shreyas Iyer, who only came in because of Kohli's injury. Jaiswal gives India a lefty in a batting order dominated by right-handers but Shreyas has put in considerable time and effort into making #4 his own in this format recently.

With only two more ODIs to go before the Champions Trophy, the likes of Arshdeep Singh and Varun CV - who is in contention to be added to the squad for the multi-team event - could also need a look-in.

Probable XI: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal/Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana/Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami

England

The batting composition should remain the same, while it could be tempting for Buttler to bring in the experienced Mark Wood.

Probable XI: Phil Salt, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (c), Jacob Bethell, Liam Livingstone, Brydon Carse, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer, Saqib Mahmood/Mark Wood

Did you know:

- Since January 2023, Ravindra Jadeja has picked 31 wickets in 26 ODIs - numbers far superior to his fellow finger spinners Washington Sundar (9 wickets in 10 games) and Axar Patel (9 wickets in 14 games).

- Mohammed Shami is four away from becoming the quickest to 200 wickets in ODIs in terms of balls bowled.

- Liam Livingstone shrugged off his World Cup 2023 form to have an incredible 2024 in the 50-over format - Innings: 8 | Runs: 286 | SR: 133 | Avg: 57.20

- Post the 2023 World Cup, Brydon Carse has picked 9 wickets in 7 innings in the 50-over format - the most for England.

What they said:

"I personally don't think there's any problem. The last 3 one-dayers Rohit has played, he has scored 58, 64 and 35. The guy has got 31 one-day hundreds. Sometimes whenever there's a little lean patch, I don't think I'd be worried or thinking about their form. Yes in Tests in Australia it was a tough time. About one-dayers, he's always been scoring runs so not concerned." - India's batting coach Sitanshu Kotak on Rohit Sharma's form.

Batters to watch(Recent stats)

Shreyas Iyer, IND

8 M • 386 Runs • 55.14 Avg • 134.49 SR

KL Rahul, IND

9 M • 317 Runs • 45.29 Avg • 92.15 SR

Ben Duckett, ENG

7 M • 408 Runs • 58.29 Avg • 107.36 SR

Liam Livingstone, ENG

10 M • 336 Runs • 48 Avg • 119.57 SR

Bowlers to watch(Recent stats)

Arshdeep Singh, IND

5 M • 12 Wkts • 4.55 Econ • 22 SR

Kuldeep Yadav, IND

9 M • 9 Wkts • 4.48 Econ • 53.44 SR

Adil Rashid, ENG

9 M • 8 Wkts • 5.31 Econ • 55.75 SR

Brydon Carse, ENG

6 M • 8 Wkts • 7.22 Econ • 30.75 SR

Head-To-Head Record

Matches Played 108

Won by India 59

Won by England 44

Tied 2

No Result 03

First-ever Fixture July 13, 1974

Most-recent Fixture February 06, 2025

IND vs ENG Probable Best Performers

Probable Best Batter:

Shreyas Iyer who had been inducted into the playing XI in the first ODI, due to star batter Virat Kohli's exclusion displayed remarkable brilliance with the bat, scoring a 36-ball 59. His innings laced with nine boundaries and two sixes, helped the side to get in a comfortable position after a rough start. The Mumbai batter will be looking forward to this game and will be hoping to put in yet another impressive showing with the bat.

Probable Best Bowler:

The left-arm-spinner Ravindra Jadeja bowled brilliantly in the series opener as he picked up 3/26 in nine overs. Jadeja got rid of Joe Root, Sune Luus, Jacob Bethell, and Adil Rashid. The 36-year-old will look to make good use of the conditions and bowl another match-winning spell in the upcoming game.