Dhoni likely to lead India against England Lions

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is expected to lead the Indian side in place of skipper Rahul Dravid who will be rested for the warm-up cricket one-dayer against England Lions in Northampton on Saturday.

It will be a dress rehearsal of sorts for Dhoni who has been named the captain of the Indian team for the inaugural Twenty-20 World Championships in South Africa next month.

The tourists are once again to be without the services of Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan against a strong home team that boasts of Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara and Owais Shah, all of whom have been named in England's one-day squad.

But Sourav Ganguly, who along with Tendulkar and Zaheer missed the one-off ODI against Scotland, was likely to return to action.

The Indians had a comfortable 7-wicket win against Scotland at Glasgow on Thursday but they could face a severe examination tomorrow.

The tourists, who won the Test series 1-0, now need to get back into top shape for the razzmatazz of one-day cricket.

Promising Mumbai player Rohit Sharma could get a chance, keeping with Dravid's comment before the Scotland ODI that every member of the team would get a look in before the proper series begins.

Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa might continue to open the innings while Ganguly could come in at number three.

Ajit Agarkar, Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla and Ramesh Powar form the bowling combination.

Agarkar would be under pressure as he went for runs against Scotland although he picked two wickets.

Having won the Test series, India did well to outclass Scotland by seven wickets with all the bowlers doing a decent job. Gambhir and Uthappa then had a good sparring session notching up sparkling half centuries.

However, while Scotland was a team lacking in both class and experience, on Friday India will be squaring up against an opponent that is packed with promising players all but one of whom have played for England.

Led by the dashing Vikram Solkani, who has already been named in England's side for the Twenty20 World Cup, the team has plenty of international experience.

Also England's 36-year-old wicketkeeper Paul Nixon will try and make his presence felt along with Tim Bresnan, James Kirtley, Jason Lewis, Darren Maddy, and Jeremy Snape.

The weather man has predicted some showers for the day, so the fingers will have to be kept crossed again.

The teams:

India (likely): Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Kaarthick, Piyush Chawla, Ramesh Powar, Ajit Agarkar and Munaf Patel.

England Lions (from): Vikram Solanki (captain), Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, James Kirtley, Jon Lewis, Darren Maddy, Paul Nixon, Chris Schofield, Owais Shah, Jeremy Snape, Luke Wright.