India eye series win against England as Cuttack gears up for mega-battle

India started the ODI series with an emphatic performance, surging ahead in the three-match bilateral. It was an all-round performance that set the tone right for Team India, featuring sparkling performances from Shubman Gill and the duo of Harshit Rana and Ravindra Jadeja. With a win in the bucket, India will be brimming with confidence to try and steal the series in the second game itself.

Even though no clear update has been provided yet about the availability of Virat Kohli, yet reports state that the former Indian captain is possibly set to return. If that happens, then India will have a strong case for themselves to make it a second win in a row, especially keeping in mind that more than the series, this is India’s last ODI assignment ahead of Champions Trophy.

England will be desperate to return to winning ways after shaky fortunes in recent times. They were humbled by England in the last series and their batting would produce a serious cause of concern. However, with the kind of talent that prevails in the English squad, it goes without saying that they have the necessary firepower to turn this around.

Pitch conditions:

Going by the nature of the surface in Barabati, spinners have decent assistance from the track. It also offers a bit of spongy bounce which makes batting a lot more difficult. If the unpredictable bounce can be braved accordingly, then one might expect this to be a run-fest considering the fact that the surface has formerly produced high-scoring bangers.

Head to Head:

Matches played: 108

India: 59

England: 44

Match Details:

India vs England, 2nd ODI, 2025

Venue: Barabati Stadium, Cuttack

Date: 9th February, 2025

Time: 1:30 PM

Squads:

India: Ꮪhubman Gill (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy

England: Jos Buttler (c), Harry Brook, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Philip Salt, Jamie Smith, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Liam Livingstone, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Saqib Mahmood, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood