India elect to bat first in series decider ODI

NEW DELHI, September 8: India skipper Rahul Dravid won the toss and decided to bat first in the seventh and final ODI against England at Lord's on Saturday.
Both the sides have made one change India recalled RP Singh in place of Ajit Agarkar while England rested Alstair Cook for Andrew Flintoff.
The Indians have already made the tour of England memorable by winning the Test series 1-0 after a gap of 21 years and an ODI series victory would serve as the icing on the cake.
Rahul Dravid and his men have shown tremendous resilience to bounce back from a 1-3 deficit and the hallowed turf of the Lord's provides the perfect setting for an engrossing battle between the two teams.
The sensational win in the last game at the Oval on Wednesday would be a huge morale-booster for India as the batsmen showed character to snatch a win from the jaws of defeat.
The seven-batsman strategy paid dividends for the team in the last two matches and it was the scintillating strokeplay by youngster Robin Uthappa, who came into bat at number seven, which helped India clinch the cliff-hanger at the Oval.
The visitors would probably retain the same combination for the summit showdown where the batsmen would again have to play a big role.
Dravid knows that the decider would not be a cakewalk for his players who have to show a lot of character to win their third match on the trot.
The opening pair of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly is in great form and India would again bank on the experience of the veteran duo to get off to a flying start.
Teams
India: Rahul Dravid (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ramesh Powar, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh and Piyush Chawla.
England: Andrew Flintoff, MJ Prior, IR Bell, KP Pietersen, PD Collingwood, Luke Wright, OA Shah, SCJ Broad, JM Anderson, MS Panesar, Dimitri Mascarenhas.