India will take on England on Friday, September 30 at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati to kick off their World Cup warm-up proceedings. The match will start at 2 pm (IST) and will provide some mouthwatering action to fans despite being a dead rubber as several star players from both teams will take the field to have a decent hit out in the middle.
The defending champions England are being touted by several cricket pundits as one of the favourites to win the title this time around too and hence it will be interesting to see how hard they choose to push in the match against the hosts. The return of star allrounder Ben Stokes is a matter of great joy for the team management and the English fans as the southpaw is known for delivering under immense pressure and has won games for England against the odds.
On the other hand, Ravichandran Ashwin's late inclusion in the squad due to an injury to spin-bowling allrounder Axar Patel has bolstered India's spin bowling stocks. Ashwin is a shrewd customer with the ball and possesses the ability to turn games on his own. Hence, both teams would look to maximize the warm-up fixture on Saturday and get something beneficial out of it.
Barsapara Cricket Stadium Pitch Report
The venue has not hosted a lot of ODI matches thus far but the pitch at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium is known for its batting-friendly nature. Seamers do get some early nip with the new ball and that is the only phase when the batters have to play with caution.
Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati Records and Stats
Total ODI Matches: 3
Matches won batting first: 1
Matches won bowling first: 2
Average first innings score: 248
Average second innings score: 227
Highest total scored: 373/7 by India vs Sri Lanka
Highest score chased: 326/2 by India vs West Indies
Lowest total recorded: 50 all out by ENG-W vs IND-W
Lowest total defended: 373/7 by India vs Sri Lanka
