Archives for October 2011

The one-day international series may be well and truly over as a contest, but we still have the garden of Eden to tempt us.

After another Indian victory in Mumbai on Sunday night, England's players head to Kolkata for two games at the iconic Eden Gardens Cricket Stadium.

It will be the first international match England will have played at India's most famous ground since 2002 after the scheduled World Cup game earlier this year had to be moved because redevelopment work was not finished in time.

Despite the travails of the tour, many of England's players have expressed their excitement at playing at a ground which is sometimes described as cricket's answer to the Coliseum.

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The first thing I noticed when I opened my copy of the Hyderabad Times this morning was a full page advert promoting the forthcoming one-day series with England. The headline was "Time for Vengeance - The war between India and England resumes from 14 October."

This was accompanied by a picture of several members of the India side dressed in army combat gear holding bats and stumps as if they were guns and other weapons. The sponsors of the ODIs are describing the forthcoming matches as "the Payback Series".

I think you can safely say that the Indian public were hurt by what took place in England over the summer - and they are looking for revenge.

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