England have won the toss and decided to bat first.Team News: Gambhir comes back after serving a one Test ban. Yuvraj Singh finally gets a chance to come back into the Test side in the spot vacated by Sourav Ganguly.
Pitch Report: Looks a little weird but should be a good pitch and in the words of the Television Commentator, David Llyod who was down there at the pitch side, it's certainly a result pitch. Patches of grass here and there and a few devoid of it too. This should promise a little more carry and bounce. As the time goes on, it will ease out into a good batting surface. Spinners will surely come into play. Something for everyone.
England (Playing XI): Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen(c), Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Matthew Prior(w), Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Stephen Harmison, Monty Panesar
India (Playing XI): Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni(w/c), Amit Mishra, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma
India vs England 1st Test Day 1 Link 1
India vs England 1st Test Day 1 Link 2
India vs England 1st Test Day 1 Live Cricket Streaming Links
India vs England 5th ODI Live Cricket Streaming Links
After Winning the first 4 match, India are expected to throw in new faces for the rest of the series as the selectors attempt to build a strong base for the 2011 World Cup.England will also be looking at making some changes. Ian Bell and Samit Patel might make way for Alistair Cook and Luke Wright. Harmison could also return in place of one of the seamers. It's another day-night game and the conditions seem perfect. Expect a full game.
Match scheduled to begin at 02:00 local time (09:00 GMT)
India vs England 5th ODI Link 1
India vs England 5th ODI Link 2
India vs England 3rd ODI Live Cricket Streaming Links
The 3rd ODI match between India and England will be played at Green Park, Kanpur. There might be two changes for India from the last match. Indian paceman Ishant Sharma who missed the first two matches probably going to replace R.P Singh and for England Graeme Swann will play his first match of this ODI series.
Match scheduled to begin at 09:00 local time (03:30 GMT)
England have won the toss and decided to bat first
The umpires are done with their inspection, toss to happen at 09:15 LOCAL, it will be a 49 overs-a-side contest.
India vs England 3rd ODI Link 1
India vs England 3rd ODI Link 2
England vs South Afirca Live Cricket Streaming Links
South Africa won the toss & chosen to bowl.
England: 1 Ian Bell, 2 Matt Prior (wk), 3 Owais Shah, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Paul Collingwood, 7 Samit Patel, 8 Luke Wright, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Steve Harmison, 11 James Anderson
South Africa: 1Herschelle Gibbs, 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Jacques Kallis (capt), 4 AB de Villiers, 5 JP Duminy, 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Albie Morkel, 8 Johan Botha, 9 Morne Morkel, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Makhaya Ntini
Live Cricket Links
Link 1
England vs South Afirca 2nd ODI Live Streaming
Toss South Africa have won the toss and decided to bat
England 1 Ian Bell, 2 Matt Prior (wk), 3 Owais Shah, 4 Kevin Pietersen (capt), 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Paul Collingwood, 7 Samit Patel, 8 Luke Wright, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Steve Harmison, 11 James Anderson
South Africa 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Herschelle Gibbs, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 AB de Villiers, 5 JP Duminy, 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Albie Morkel, 8 Johan Botha, 9 Andre Nel, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Makhaya Ntini
Live Cricket Link
Link 1
England vs South Africa 1st ODI Live Cricket Streaming
Kevin Pietersen has won the toss and England will bat.
England 1 Ian Bell, 2 Matt Prior (wk), Owais Shah, 4 Kevin Pietersen (capt), 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Ravi Bopara, 7 Samit Patel, 8 Luke Wright, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Steve Harmison, 11 James Anderson.
Samit Patel keeps his place after making his debut against Scotland, preferred ahead of Graeme Swann as England's spin option.
South Africa (Playing XI): Graeme Smith(c), Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Jean-Paul Duminy, Mark Boucher(w), Vernon Philander, Johan Botha, Andre Nel, Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini
Live Cricket Link
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Michael Vaughan afraid of Twenty20
Former England captain Michael Vaughan fears the lure of lucrative Twenty20 competitions could turn young players into sloggers who won't be interested in Test cricket.
Vaughan is convinced the riches on offer to players in the fledgling Twenty20 tournaments in India and the West Indies will make the next generation focus on the big-hitting needed to flourish in the 20-over game rather than the more disciplined style of five-day Tests.
"My gut feeling is that players will be gearing their game towards the Twenty20 format, more than the five-day format," Vaughan told Wisden Cricketer magazine.
"The new generation of 15-to-20-year-olds, are they going to gear themselves towards travelling the world for nine months of the year playing five-day cricket or earn plenty by playing three-hour cricket a little bit in India and at home? I'm not too sure.
"Suppose you're a young player and you suddenly come into the England team now, and within the first year you play two Stanfords and earn a million quid and get an IPL deal.
"Where's it going to go to? That's my fear for the longer format -- that the motivation of players will be more geared towards Twenty20 cricket.
"What we're all saying is that the pinnacle is Test cricket...That's why the administrators have got to be clever."
Kevin Pietersen announced as new England captain
New England captain Kevin Pietersen said Monday that he wanted to take his "instinct" approach as a batsman into his new role as leader of the team.
Pietersen, 28, was announced as England's Test and one-day captain, starting with the fourth and final Test against South Africa at The Oval from Thursday.
He said he did not believe the captaincy would affect the way he played.
"Time will tell. I hope it won't. It's a way I've been successful with so far in my career and something I want to try and keep at a real high level."
Asked what style he would bring to the captaincy, Pietersen said: "The way I play is very gut instinct orientated and I like to do things spontaneously. I like to do what I feel is right in a situation.
"I think over the years I've played cricket I've gained a good cricket brain. My gut instinct when I've been batting for England has assisted me tremendously. It's a brand new challenge for me and I love challenges."
He said he would captain England "with a smile on my face".
Pietersen paid tribute to Michael Vaughan, who resigned Sunday, and said he had "huge boots to try and fill. Michael was a great leader and a great friend."
He believed that Vaughan remained a great batsman and that after he had taken some time off he would go back to county cricket for Yorkshire and win back a place in the England team.
He said the invitation to captain England had turned his life around. He said he accepted the job after speaking to his wife Jessica and his parents in South Africa.
"You could see how emotional Michael was when he spoke about his family and it's an emotional decision," said Pietersen, who said he had a good meeting with coach Peter Moores on Sunday.
"He likes to challenge us on a daily basis. There are a lot of strong characters in the dressing room and a lot of opinionated people. I sat down with Peter and we had a real good discussion about how we want to take this team forward. I think my position from a player to a captain is totally different and we need to unite and to get on the same hymn sheet."
He said he would lean on people like Vaughan.
"I will always respect what happened in the past and I will always ask for advice. I'm fresh into this and I will need some help. One of the most exciting things is that I have had text messages and phone calls from senior members in the squad who have said they are right behind me."
Chairman of selectors Geoff Miller confirmed that uniting the Test and one-day captaincy was something he had wanted to achieve. Paul Collingwood resigned from the one-day captaincy Sunday.
Miller announced only one change in England's 13-man squad for the final Test against South Africa, with batsman Ravi Bopara replacing Vaughan, which he said was a sign that there was no panic from the selectors with England trailing the four-match series 2-0.
He said the selectors had not contemplated a change of captaincy before Vaughan's resignation.
Nottinghamshire batsman Samit Patel is the only uncapped player in a 15-man squad for a Twenty20 international and five one-day internationals against South Africa. Wicketkeeper Matt Prior has been recalled.
Pietersen was quoted recently as expressing doubts about travelling to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy next month.
He has also been linked with the Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition.
Asked how the captaincy would affect his participation, he said: "I haven't even thought that far ahead. My concern this week is about how we can salvage pride from this series."
Pietersen was born and raised in South Africa and played for the Natal provincial team as an off-spin bowler and hard-hitting lower order batsman.
Disenchanted with South Africa's racial quota system he joined Nottinghamshire in 2001, where he quickly established himself as a top order batsman.
Entitled to a British passport through his English-born mother, he qualified for England in September 2004 and was almost immediately picked for England's one-day side for a series in Zimbabwe.
He made such an impact there that he was drafted into the squad for a one-day series in South Africa and despite being jeered by the local crowds he made three centuries in seven matches to announce himself as a player of quality and big-match temperament.
He made his Test debut against Australia in 2005 and played a major role in England's winning of the Ashes, notably with his innings of 158 in the final Test at the Oval.
Despite being criticised for sometimes being too aggressive and impetuous he has hit 13 centuries in his 42 Test matches and has an average of 50.36, placing himself in the top bracket of international players.
Pietersen holed out to long-on when he was on 94 in the third Test at Edgbaston last week.
Asked whether he might have played differently if he had been captain, he said: "Hopefully I am going to bat exactly the same way. The way Colly (Paul Collingwood) and I played is exactly the way you need to play against South Africa and against Australia. You have to be positive and aggressive."