England have had the worst possible start to the one-day series against India — in Rajkot, they played poorly and lost by 158 runs; in Indore, they raised their game a few notches and still lost by 54 runs.

Unfortunately for the visitors, even a casual observer at India’s net session ahead of the third one-dayer in Kanpur would have realised that the hosts were in no mood to let up.

Yuvraj Singh has dominated in the first two games, but the rest of the Indian middle-order — Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni — seemed to be lining up to cash in. It was raining sixes during the nets as the trio spent their time clearing imaginary boundary ropes.

“Hitting sixes is very important in games,” Dhoni said later. “If you hit eight or 10 of them in practice, it gives you the confidence to try hitting sixes at least three-four times in a match.” Obviously, there are no half-measures here.

Decoding Yuvraj

The biggest headache for the visitors remains Yuvraj though, who has been in sensational form with a 138 in Rajkot and another century plus a four-wicket haul in Indore. “We’ll try to get him out as early as we can. He was a bit down on form before the series started but has bounced back in the first two matches and looks hungry for runs,” off-spinner Graeme Swann, likely to be drafted into the playing XI, said at the pre-match press conference.

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