England vs India
Match scheduled to begin at 17:30 local time (16:30 GMT)
Current time: 03:59 local, 02:59 GMT
Well, that's livened things up a bit. West Indies' stunning seven-wicket win over India on Friday has transformed the dynamics of Group E, and left the holders facing what is, in effect, an elimination show-down with the hosts. On paper it ought not even to be close - when England and India last faced each other in a limited-overs contest, in India in November, a unprecedented 7-0 whitewash was only averted by the abandonment of the tour due to the Mumbai terror attacks.
Nothing that England have done in this tournament to date gives much reason to believe they have a prayer of progressing any further. A laughable defeat against the Dutch was followed by a competent dismissal of a distracted Pakistan, but their humbling against South Africa on Thursday was a truer reflection of their standing. Quite simply, they were outclassed, rolled over for 111 - the lowest total of the competition so far - and routed by Jacques Kallis on cruise control.
India, by contrast, were progressing pretty serenely (give or take the odd testy press conference) until their surprise derailment at the hands of Dwayne Bravo. They qualified comfortably from a weak group made up of Bangladesh and Ireland, and it's possible they were caught unawares by the sudden step-up in class that West Indies presented.
Whatever the reasons, forewarned means forearmed. The last time these two sides met in the World Twenty20, in Durban in September 2007, Yuvraj Singh strode into history with his brutalising of a young Stuart Broad, and India marched into the final stages as England skulked home early from yet another global tournament. Little we've witnessed thus far in 2009 suggests the story will be any different. But then again, shocks are part and parcel of this format, and any side containing an in-form Kevin Pietersen cannot be dismissed out of hand.
Nothing that England have done in this tournament to date gives much reason to believe they have a prayer of progressing any further. A laughable defeat against the Dutch was followed by a competent dismissal of a distracted Pakistan, but their humbling against South Africa on Thursday was a truer reflection of their standing. Quite simply, they were outclassed, rolled over for 111 - the lowest total of the competition so far - and routed by Jacques Kallis on cruise control.
India, by contrast, were progressing pretty serenely (give or take the odd testy press conference) until their surprise derailment at the hands of Dwayne Bravo. They qualified comfortably from a weak group made up of Bangladesh and Ireland, and it's possible they were caught unawares by the sudden step-up in class that West Indies presented.
Whatever the reasons, forewarned means forearmed. The last time these two sides met in the World Twenty20, in Durban in September 2007, Yuvraj Singh strode into history with his brutalising of a young Stuart Broad, and India marched into the final stages as England skulked home early from yet another global tournament. Little we've witnessed thus far in 2009 suggests the story will be any different. But then again, shocks are part and parcel of this format, and any side containing an in-form Kevin Pietersen cannot be dismissed out of hand.
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