Stage set for crucial opener

Jaipur, India: The battle for the champion of champions title commences today with hosts India taking on England at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here.

It is a clash between two teams, both unsure of how they will perform in this tournament.

But as a booster to their players' morale, both captains have claimed that they will get off to a winning start. Needless to say, these words are only meant to maintain a positive attitude.

Although England has only four victories from their recent 17 One-dayers, they will remember the 5-1 thrashing from India during their last tour here.

But India have only one win from their last nine one-dayers. So the clash today is a battle to regain their lost confidence.

"I am pretty happy with the way we have trained. If we get on a roll early I think we are going to be a force to reckon with," said captain Rahul Dravid.

"They have got some good match-winners and we are not going to take them lightly. Any of these teams can win not only this tournament, but actually go on and win the World Cup. So we are starting on a level playing field."

The Indian team appear to be buckling under the pressure of their coach Greg Chappell's experiments with the batting and bowling order.

Most players seem uncertain of their roles and their position in the team and batting order. But Chappell claims that his experimentations will usher in victory. Unfortunately, the results are not showing and the Indian fans are running out of patience.

Ghost of Ganguly

Moreover, the ghost of Sourav Ganguly seems to be haunting the Indian coach a lot. The fact that Ganguly was India's most successful captain and also the holder of many records in the Champions Trophy must be disturbing Chappell. Ganguly is the highest run getter, the highest scorer and the batsman with the maximum centuries in this tournament.

As far as the Indian fans are concerned, whoever brings in victory is their hero and if Chappell does not transform the team quickly into a winning unit, the coming days can be be tough for him.

England, on the other hand, are yet to recover from the pressure of a series of defeats. The confidence they gained from their Ashes victory seems eroded long back. Injuries have kept away players like Michael Vaughan, Simon Jones, Ashley Giles and Marcus Trescothick. To win in India, a team needs not only talent but experience too. Though Andrew Flintoff has recovered from his ankle injury, his role as a bowler will be badly missed. A lot would depend on batsmen like Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood.

Dravid feels his spinners have the advantage of bowling on home conditions and could pose a problem to the English batsmen. "The biggest challenge they [England] will probably have to deal with is how they play our spinners," he said. "How they play in these conditions and how they adapt and adjust themselves to the wickets."

Both teams will be aiming at a whirlwind start, but how far they will be successful depends on the quality of the attack. England's pace attack, though depleted, is better than the Indians. However an in-form Sachin Tendulkar could reduce that advantage. Either way, a royal battle is in the offing.