England must respond in Cardiff as India eye series clincher

England are under pressure to turn their ODI form around in Cardiff, while India are aiming to close out the series with another win. England in trouble England need an urgent reset after struggling in the previous ODIs. They’ll be looking to bounce back and keep the series alive on home soil. India have been the stronger side so far and will be eyeing a series win in Cardiff. Another victory would seal it. With the series still on, the Cardiff ODI has big stakes — England to fight for survival, India to finish the job. As the teams reconvene in Cardiff, England won't have many doubts about where it all went wrong for them. They seemed to have done the hard work, in grinding out a 61-run opening stand that involved an ego-less absorption of Jasprit Bumrah's magnificent new-ball spell, but then stuttered in extraordinary fashion. Not many sides recover from a middle-order collapse of 5 for 19 in 27 balls, and sure enough England did not, even though Joe Root and Liam Dawson did their utmost with a spirited stand of 121 that at least permitted a token score on the board. Root, however, should have joined the collapse on 7, when Shivam Dube dropped a return catch, and gutsy though Dawson proved to be in making his maiden ODI fifty, he clearly should not have been playing at all, given how badly England misread their own conditions. Lesson from last game Harry Brook frontloaded 3 quick bowlers on a bouncy, seaming pitch. But England looked 10 overs short on pace and paid the price as India cruised to victory. Cardiff has short straight boundaries and deep square boundaries. That makes power-hitters essential — you can’t win without guys who can clear the ropes. Brydon Carse has been fast-tracked into the squad after recovering from injury. He’s in line to play on Thursday and adds extra pace England lacked last time. Gurnoor Brar earned his opportunity on this trip with a lively haul of seven wickets in three matches against Afghanistan last month, and he let no-one down with a sparky display at Edgbaston. From the outset, he was drawn into a feisty duel with Ben Duckett, who took his first over for 17 runs, but he soon emerged on the right side of the ledger, dismissing both openers in the space of four balls to trigger England's mid-innings meltdown. His short ball to Bethell, caught at deep square leg, was perhaps the most instructive for the contest ahead. Those deep pockets square of the wicket are ripe for some energetic pitch-hitting. In the broad sweep of Cardiff's ODI history, it is something of a bowl-first venue - with eight of the 12 matches in the past decade going to the chasing side. The ongoing UK heatwave is set to contribute to another fast outfield.