India vs England: Going down memory lane

The very first game of the World Cup was played between India and England, back in 1975 at Lord's. Since then, this rivalry has grown into a fascinating duel, with India enjoying a upper hand in recent times. We look at four games between the two sides that are worth remembering for years to come..

When Freddie took off his shirt...

The teams went into the final game with India leading 3-2. This match, at the Wankhede in Mumbai, provided the fitting climax as England eked out a thrilling five-run win to draw the series 3-3. England made 255 based on opener Marcus Trescothick's 95. They looked like making much more at 153-2, but collapsed, with Harbhajan Singh picking up a five-for. Sourav Ganguly (80) led India's chase, but Andrew Flintoff (3-380 won it for England. To rub salt into India's wounds, Flintoff took off his shirt and ran around the ground with his teammates in jubilation.

Feb 3, 2002 at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Brief scores: England 255 in 49.1 overs (M Trescothick 95, N Hussain 41, A Flintoff 40; Harbhajan 5-43) beat India 250 in 49.5 overs (S Ganguly 80; A Flintoff 3-38) by five runs.

When Aleem Dar did India in

It was the decider of the NatWest series, which had gone right down to the wire at 3-3 till that point. At Lord's, however, everything went wrong for India. England, expectedly, prepared a fast and bouncy wicket and bowled out India for 187. The game, unfortunately, was spoiled by Pakistani umpire Aleem Dar's folly in judging Sachin Tendulkar out caught behind off Flintoff when television replays showed that the ball had brushed the batsman's shoulder.

Sept 8, 2007 at Lord's

Brief Scores: India 187 in 47.3 overs (MS Dhoni 50; A Flintoff 3-45, A Mascarenhas 3-23) lost to England 188-3 in 36.2 overs (K Pietersen 71 not out, P Collingwood 64).

The Lord at Lord's

It was probably the second most impactful win for India after the 1983 World Cup triumph. The Natwest tri-series final looked like England's for the taking after Nasser Hussain & Co made 325 for five. With the top order in the hut, all hope looked lost at 146-5, before Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif scripted a sensational turnaround with a 121-run partnership. The most abiding memory though was Sourav Ganguly twirling his shirt on the Lord's balcony.

July 13, 2002 at Lord's

Brief scores: England 325-5 in 50 overs (M Trescothick 109, N Hussain 115; Z Khan 3-62) lost to India 326-8 in 49.3 overs (M Kaif 87, Yuvraj 69, S Ganguly 60, V Sehwag 45) by two wickets.

The Nehra sixer

In a must-win game for India, Ashish Nehra produced perhaps the best-ever spell delivered by an Indian fast bowler. Playing with a badly damaged knee, Nehra ran through the English batting line-up on a seaming Durban pitch. In between, the charged up pacer had a banana and threw up instantly! The other thing worth remembering from this game is Sachin Tendulkar's pulled six off seamer Andy Caddick.

Date: February 26, 2003

Venue: Durban

Brief scores: India 250-9 in 50 overs (R Dravid 62, S Tendulkar 50, Yuvraj 42; A Caddick 3-69) beat England 168 in 45.3 overs (A Flintoff 64; A Nehra 6-23) by 82 runs.

Eng v Ind 11th ODI ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Live Streaming

Watch India vs England (Eng vs Ind) ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 11th ODI Group B at Bangalore Live Streaming Match and Live Scores online with online betting tips. Today’s Hot favorite team will be India with 77.3% chance to win whereas England 22.7% to win the match.

However India have to be considered heavy favorites to beat England cricket team here. While the Indians can entertain very real chances of winning the entire competition, the way England are playing, that would seem nothing more than a fantasy. England were poor coming into the World Cup, and basically scraping home against the Netherlands in the first match here is not going to scare anyone. India look ominously good when beating Bangladesh, hitting 370/4 and its this kind of hitting that will be the deciding factor. India will be far too good, England look short in every way, and that includes confidence. It may not be a battering but it should be comprehensive, and the Indians will win and make it two from two, leaving England to look forward to what should be a straightforward win over Ireland.

ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 - Day 9: Preview & Prediction

Trivandrum: When India and England clash in a Group B match at Bangalore on Sunday, the ICC and BCCI administrators will be hoping that the cricket played at the centre negates the negative publicity that has haunted this fixture.

Initially scheduled to be played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, the match was at the centre of controversy for a good couple of weeks. The ICC ground inspection team found the Eden unfit to host the match and in a bid to keep the game in Kolkata, even the who's who of Indian politics got involved, trying to put pressure on the International governing body through their contacts in the Indian Board.

However, the ICC stuck to its guns and the match was moved to the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore. But trouble followed the change all the way down to the sunny South.

Earlier this week, as fans queued up outside the ground to get tickets for the game, a mini-stampede broke out, prompting police to lathi charge. There were far too less tickets on offer for the general public, with Karnataka Cricket Association blaming ‘quota allocation pressures’. The scene got even uglier through the day as allegations cropped up, that top officials of the KCA and even policemen were giving away tickets at exorbitant prices.

With all the bad press associated with this fixture so far, one just hopes that the players are not affected and give us a game of cricket worth remembering.

Both India and England have been in prime form of late and could give us a real nail-biter. Having won their opening Group games against Bangladesh and the Netherlands respectively, the winner in this match will be in prime position to go through to the quarter-finals.

Having played just the one specialist spinner in Harbhajan Singh against Bangladesh, India might look to have an additional slow bowling option against the Three Lions. The inclusion of either Piyush Chawla or Ravichandran Ashwin would mean that S Sreesanth would go out of the side.

But with dew likely to be an issue while bowling second, MS Dhoni and Gary Kirsten might decide to rely on part-timers Suresh Raina (Yuvraj Singh unlikely to play with a small niggle) and Yusuf Pathan to provide the fifth bowling option. In which case, a three-prong fast bowling attack led by Zaheer Khan and featuring Sreesanth/Nehra and Munaf Patel, will have to do a better job than they did in Mirpur.

Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Strauss opening the batting for England, will relish the prospect of eating into this trio of seamers. But they will have to be cautious to not throw away good starts, especially if there is some swing on offer.

The match in the end might come down to which of the two spinners, Graeme Swann or Harbhajan, has a better outing. Both these world-class performers will be lethal during the middle overs.

Prediction: India to edge England as Swann shines, but without much help from the other bowlers.