1st ODI: England elect to field

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Last updated on: November 14, 2008 09:37 IST

England won the toss and elected to bowl first in the opening one-day international against India in Rajkot on Friday.

England named three specialist fast bowlers, including Stuart Broad who has recovered from a sore knee, in a pace-oriented attack alongside all-rounder Andrew Flintoff.

Left-arm seamer Ryan Sidebottom was ruled out due to an Achilles injury.

The tourists are playing one specialist spinner in Samit Patel with all-rounder Ravi Bopara earning a recall.

India also opted for a three-man pace attack and Harbhajan Singh as a lone specialist spinner.

Fast bowler Ishant Sharma, man of the series in the 2-0 Test series victory against Australia, was ruled out due to an ankle injury and batsman Sachin Tendulkar has been rested for the first three matches.

Teams:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Rudra Pratap Singh, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan.

England: Kevin Pietersen (captain), Ian Bell, Matt Prior, Owais Shah, Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood, Samit Patel, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Steve Harmison.

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