|
|
Blinded by the lights
Wisden CricInfo staff - January 24, 2002
Tomorrow's day-night game at the Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai will be only the eighth ODI to be played there. None of the previous games has involved England - and only three have involved India.
Nasser Hussain will be hoping his terrible luck with the toss improves in Chennai (the town of his birth). The team batting first have won 71% of games there. And England have another good reason for desperately wanting to win the toss: in recent day-night games they have chased dreadfully. In the past three years they have lost 14 of the 16 of day-night matches in which they have batted second. The exceptions were a rout of Zimbabwe at Old Trafford in 2000, where England overhauled a paltry target of 111, and the Flintoff-inspired victory at Karachi in October 2000.
The most famous performance this ground didn't come from an Indian or an Englishman. In 1996-97 Saeed Anwar smashed 194 from 146 balls for Pakistan against India - and employed a runner to do most of the dashing between the wickets on a stifling evening. This is still the highest individual score ever made in an ODI. The match also contained the best one-day bowling figures ever at Chennai: 5 for 61 by Aqib Javed.
Batsmen on both sides will be queuing up to get to the wicket. The most recent three matches at the Chidambaram stadium have produced an average of 270 runs per innings.
England's day-night record against India is poor: they have lost four of their six floodlit matches against India (67%), as opposed to 46% in all ODIs. However, India's record in Chennai is sketchy - lost two, won one. Nor is it a happy hunting-ground for Tendulkar, who has made just 12 runs in two one-day appearances. England might take heart from this; India supporters will point out that the law of averages suggests he is due runs here.
Watch every ball of India v England live on your screen with Wisden.com. Highlights packages also available. Click here for details
© Wisden CricInfo Ltd
|
|
|
