India, England kick off Champions Trophy

N. Ananthanarayanan

CRICKET: Champions Trophy hosts India will kick start three weeks of intense action among the world's top eight teams with the opening main round match against 2004 finalists England in Jaipur on Sunday.

The teams face off in the first fixture in Group A, which also includes England's Ashes rivals Australia, who are thirsting to win the one title that has eluded them since the biennial event began in 1998. Prior to the main tournament, defending champions West Indies and Sri Lanka advanced from a four-team qualifying league by virtue of wins over minnows Bangladesh and Zimbabwe this week.

The two meet on Saturday to decide which nation tops the group and joins former winners South Africa and New Zealand in Group B along with Pakistan.

The loser of the match will go into Group A.

England skipper Andrew Flintoff returns after ankle surgery with one eye on the Ashes series starting in Australia on Nov. 23 and hoping to atone for a 5-1 one-day series rout in India in April. The inspirational all rounder may only bat after announcing he would not bowl in the early stages of the event to avoid breaking down.

The 28-year-old could open the batting with deputy Andrew Strauss to accelerate scoring in the initial overs when teams look to exploit fielding restrictions.

India are under pressure after their form dip led to a 4-1 series defeat in West Indies, who also pipped them to the final against winners Australia in the Malaysia tri-series last month. Explosive batsman Virender Sehwag could return to open the batting after criticism of skipper Rahul Dravid for promoting himself up the order in a failed experiment.

There are also concerns over the bowling form of left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan, while keeper Mahendra Dhoni has gone eight innings without scoring a fifty.

However, the big-hitting Dhoni returns to a ground where he smashed a match-winning 183 not out against Sri Lanka in October, the highest one-day score by a wicket-keeper.

World champions Australia are determined not to be distracted by the feverish Ashes build-up as they bid for a maiden triumph in the second most important one-day tournament.

However, with the event serving as an unofficial Ashes selection trial, the focus will be on players such as all rounder Shane Watson and middle-order batsman Michael Clarke to perform.

South Africa and Pakistan can finally hope to put recent upheavals in their ranks behind them.

South African opener Herschelle Gibbs was back on the pitch on Friday, a day after he was questioned by Indian police about his role following a match-fixing probe initiated during their tour of India in 2000.

Gibbs, 32, has travelled to India for the first time since cases were registered against him and three other South African team mates. The scandal led to a life ban on former captain Hansie Cronje for match-fixing.

Pakistan need to overcome the absence of skipper Inzamam-ul Haq, banned for four one-dayers for his team's forfeit of the Oval test in August following a ball-tampering row.

NEW DELHI, Friday Reuters