Sourav Ganguly may be Calcutta's favourite son, but Eden Gardens isn't Ganguly's favourite cricket ground. Even at the best of times, he finds the burden of expectation from his fellow-Calcuttans nerve-wracking: with the kind of form he is in, walking out before 100,000 passionate, yet unforgiving, supporters will be living out a nightmare at noon. Ganguly's Test record at his home ground – 25.50 in four matches – is even worse than his batting record as captain – 28.16 in 16. His only one-day match here yielded a mere 36 against Kenya, and with his captaincy and indeed his place in the side on the line, he could have done without the intimidating presence of a capacity crowd, each willing him to succeed and each intolerant of his failure. Cheers don't take much time to turn to jeers at Eden Gardens: Ganguly scored a duck in his second Test innings here and was roundly booed. Even the small matter of scoring his first run would be a psychological triumph for him.

An insidious theory doing the rounds is that Ganguly might drop down to the middle order to spare himself the new ball. But nothing from the Indian camp suggests a shuffling of the top order and the most successful opening pair in the history of one-day cricket is expected to carry on.

Sachin Tendulkar skipped the Challenger Trophy to give his troublesome left foot some rest, but lack of match practice has never been a worry for him. He has a score to settle with the English bowlers; Ashley Giles and Andrew Flintoff will have to do better than firing the ball away beyond striking distance to choke him. Tendulkar is a hungrier one-day batsman nowadays, and is less prone to throwing his wicket away.

Rahul Dravid's injury opens up another opportunity for VVS Laxman to make the No. 3 position his own, and he must prove that he has the commitment and application to match his unquestionable talent. Hemang Badani was the most impressive batsman in the Challenger Trophy and has earned himself a middle-order berth. He has a cool head, an eye for the quick singles, legs for hard-run twos and threes and a cricket intelligence rarely found in Indian newcomers. He deserves a run at No. 4 or 5 to ready him for the gatherer's role in the World Cup. Virender Sehwag, who clubbed the Indian B attack for a 98-ball 126, is the ideal hunter at No. 5.

The No. 6 spot is a toss-up between left-handed batsman Dinesh Mongia, who has been belting out domestic hundreds with metronomic regularity, and Sanjay Bangar, the wannabe Robin Singh who opens with both bat and ball for Railways in the Ranji Trophy. But Mongia is likely to get the first shot, with Ganguly, Tendulkar and Sehwag sharing the fifth-bowler's burden.

Ajay Ratra will become the sixth wicketkeeper in the last 14 months to don Indian colours. He is only marginally better behind the stumps than Deep Dasgupta, the man he will replace, and is a busy lower-order batsman, capable of scurrying to a 17-ball 15 at the death - but not a 15-ball 30.

Javagal Srinath, who is a much better one-day bowler since his belated discovery of the slower ball, and Anil Kumble are sure to make the side. Sarandeep Singh was the best spinner on view in the Challenger, but it will take a brave captain to leave out Harbhajan Singh.

Though Ajit Agarkar cannot even pretend to be an allrounder anymore, he is likely to be selected ahead of Zaheer Khan for his bowling alone.

This may not be the best Indian side in the last couple of years, but they are expected to deal with England successfully. But expectations, as we all know, can do funny things.

Indian (probable)
1 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 VVS Laxman, 4 Hemang Badani, 5 Virender Sehwag, 6 Dinesh Mongia, 7 Ajay Ratra (wk), 8 Ajit Agarkar, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Anil Kumble, 11 Javagal Srinath

Sambit Bal is editor of Wisden.com India.

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