Once again, the English skipper, Alastair Cook has led his team from front with a sensational century  and impressive death bowling Steven Finn 4 for 34 has ended the with 20-runs victory against the men in green.

Earlier, English skipper, Alastair Cook won the toss and elected to bat first, as the left-hander English opener and Captain has scored his second successive century in the series hammering 102 runs that helped the team to reach 250 in 50 overs.

Cook after their consecutive victories against Host has said that, he was thrilled with my own contribution and added that, it was a slightly different wicket with slightly slower and harder to time the ball. 250 was a very good total to defend. The fielding was outstanding today.

The Skipper also reported that, he wants his team to ponder on the next game which will be held on Saturday, February 18, 2012 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on

If England clinches a victory in the third ODI, they can seal the four match one day series.

England, who has been white-washed in the test against Pakistan have came back in ODI”s, as they have won the first ODI with a mammoth 130-run victory to take a lead in the four match series.

However, the English batsmen’s were once again struggling with the Pakistan spinner with Saeed Ajmal picking (5/43) and Shahid Afridi picking (2/55 and apart from Cook’s innings and his important middle-stage stand with Ravi Bopara, the team again looked delicate in dealing with the spin threat of Saeed Ajmal and Afridi.

And in the bowling department, Steven Finn has shone excellent performance in the first ODI picking 4-34 to restrict Pakistan to just 130-runs.

Meanwhile, the Men in Green will be looking to bounce back into the series showing some good battling good performance and win the second ODI against England.

Both the teams likely to play with the same team and no change would be happened for the second ODI. However, as per reports, they might be only one change in both the sides, as Umar Akmal has been struggling from back strain which makes him the most obvious doubt for the hosts. His brother Adnam Akmal could be brought in to keep wicket.

For England, Tim Bresnan will be assessed by the medics once more as he narrowly missed out in the first ODI. If passed fit he could replace James Anderson and provide some more batting depth.

Pakistan, who have shown an empathic performance beating the world No.1 test team, England by 72-run victory has already won the three match test series taking a lead of 2-0.

The former Skipper while speaking with the sources has said that, Pakistan is back to winning track and feels his compatriots have avenged the 2010 series stating that, after being slammed by the English Media in 2012 Series with 2-1 are back to winning ways and added that, Pakistan has got the talent and talent and the ability and now they have answered the British media who were overtly critical of them.

The legendry has questioned England’s status as the No.1 team in the world, saying a side cannot claim to be numerous, if they cannot perform consistently at home and abroad.

The third and final test between Pakistan and England will be kickoff from Feb 3-7, 2012, which is scheduled to be held in Dubai.

India has won their world title at home beating Pakistan in semifinals and Sri Lanka in the finals to clinch their second world cup. However, poor run has begun, as India has back to back white wash defeats in England and last week in Australia.

Meanwhile, Imran has stated about future of the Indian Master Blaster, Tendulkar stating that, Sachin should have retired after lifting the most desirable crown in early 2011.

We all want to go with a big bang but you always don’t get it right. For Sachin the ultimate time to go was after that World Cup win. He had such a great World Cup. He is a great player and there is not replacement for him and also added that, he has to decide for himself and he must time it right. You don’t want to go having lost to Australia 4-0. If he had gone after that World Cup, that would have been the ultimate high.

The series was also below par on an individual basis for many of the ageing middle-order batters, which includes the Master Blaster, Sachin Tendulkar, who was looking to become the first player in history to score hundred centuries.

Legendary pace bowler said that rather than criticizing the Pakistan players, the British media should accept the fact that their team did not do well in the first Test at Dubai. He termed the pressure tactics of English media as “sour”.

Instead of praising him Saeed Ajmal for he is someone special, instead of admitting their team didn’t do well and Pakistan played better cricket, they are after him, said Akram while commentating on the first day of the fourth Test between India and Australia at Adelaide. “It’s not funny anymore, it’s boring, stale and old,” an irked Akram added further.

Ajmal claimed 10 wickets in Pakistan’s comprehensive 10-wicket win over England in the series opener at Dubai last week. After seeing the capitulation of the English batsmen against Ajmal in the first innings, former England players started questioning the bowling action of the off-spinner and the British media has not stopped moaning about it ever since.

Akram, the 45-year-old left-arm fast bowler, said that English players and media are in a habit of blaming the opposition after failing to perform. He criticised the experienced England batsmen for playing bad shots off Ajmal, adding that it is the job of the International Cricket Council and umpires to judge the bowling action of any bowler and not the British media.

Whenever they lose, they talk negative, said the cricketer turned commentator, who played 104 Tests for Pakistan claiming 414 wickets.

It’s the English batsmen who played bad shots, sweeping across the line to off-spinner. It’s no rocket science that you can’t play across the line. But probably they don’t know. It’s the job of umpires and the ICC, not British media, he added further.

Andrew Strauss, the England captain has admitted about their preparation for the upcoming series against Pakistan stating that, the fifth season of the IPL will not effect the English players and added that, the team has already started their preparation for the upcoming test series against Pakistan in UAE.

Strauss said that the players are enthusiastic to sport and not to financial ethics, and so their precedence remains the national team and international cricket.

England team, who have started their preparation in Dubai have won their first practice- game against ICC Combined Associate and Affiliate XI by three wickets at the ICC Global Cricket Academy, Dubai.

Strauss while speaking with the sources has said that his team did not take the practice game that easy and added that, they wanted to start the 2012 with a victory and have achieved it on third day of the practice match in Dubai. However, the left handed batsman believes that his team needs to improve in some aspects of the game.

England will be playing against Pakistan in a three match-test series, 3-T-20’s and 4-one Day Internationals staring from January 17, 2012 in the United Arab Emirates.

39-years old, Dravid has remained England tour last year and said that, the on-going test series against Australia would not end in the same fashion as England and added that, we need to fight back and get back into cricket to show winning results. We had our moment in Melbourne…we need to take heart from it. It’s important for us we don’t go down the route of England.

Middle order batsmen, Dravid while speaking about his form and the removal of Laxman and Sachin 100th ton has said that, he is working on few things and there made few changes to the game. Dravid also said that, I don’t think the talk of Laxman’s removal has affected him much. I haven’t read and Lax is not bothered either. It’s part and parcel of our job. You have got to accept it while you continue to play. That’s the way it goes.

Dravid has said about Sachin Tendulkar century that, as for Sachin’s 100th century, it’s not verbal about much. He’s been pretty undisturbed about it and added that, Sachin is batting so well, as he got good score of 90 in Mumbai and 70 and 80 in the last two tests. He is batting well adequate to complete it. It’s great if he can do it in Australia.

Pakistan

Pakistan team having shown an excellent performance winning all the ODI”S series against recent past against New Zealand, West Indies, Ireland, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will be facing a tougher side in world against England in next month.

Afridi while speaking with the sources has said that, Winning (throughout the year) gave us a momentum and moral is high. We have developed a winning unit but it will be exciting when we face England and that would be a real test. Playing against team like England or Australia is very exciting and then we will see where we stand.

Meanwhile, Afridi, who has already been retired from the tests will be competing in the ODI’s and T-20’s England.

Mean while, the men in green having shown a marvelous performance winning back to back series will be facing a one of strong test playing nations in world, England.

Pakistan will be playing against England in a three match-test series, 3-T-20’s and 4-one Day Internationals staring from January 17, 2012 in the United Arab Emirates.

India has already won the series 4-0, but will be looking forward to complete a whitewash after winning today’s match.

Indian Openers have given a good start with as India has reached 100/3 in 24 overs with Kohil has been out for a duck. However, Finn has took two-wickets as Bresnan took one-wicket.

On the other hand, England’s skipper Alastair Cook will try his best to save his side from a humiliation of a series whitewash. He won the toss today and opted to field first. The decision does not seem to be an ideal one, as there is variable bounce in the pitch and the ball also might turn more in the second half of the game.
The bad news for the tourists was that star player Kevin Pietersen was ruled out of today’s match due to an injury. He was scoring runs with consistency, but was still unable to guide his side to a victory.

Pietersen was replaced by Ian Bell, who was surprisingly kept out of the playing eleven throughout the tour. The solid batsman will look to score a big one today and prove his critics wrong that he was not suitable for Subcontinent conditions.

At the end of the 24th over, India 107/3 with Gambhir-38, Rahane-42 and Kohli- 0 are back to pavilion.

Indian Skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, has won the toss and will be batting first, hoping to make use of the team’s home-turf conditions at Hyderabad.

Dhoni winning the toss is seeking for a big scores for their opponents to give them a competitive chase, and will be resting his reliance on opening batters, Parthiv Patel, and Ajinkya Rahane, followed by Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina, to retain some lasting innings all of which would assist the Men in Blue to exhibit an imposing bout against the English.

However, if India is to suffer an early top order loss, the Skipper, alongside Ravindra Jadeja might be faced with a big challenge in order to stabilize in the final overs.

As for England, the tourists will aim to retain their might over the Indians, but for the side to earn an accessible chase, much will be relied upon the team’s new ball bowlers, Tim Bresnan, Steven Finn and the off spinner Graeme Swann to restrict the batting side in the early overs.

England having won all their practices matches at the Uppal stadium against the home team players will be getting into the match with lot’s of confidence.

India: 1 Parthiv Patel, 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Ajinkya Rahane, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 MS Dhoni (capt and wk), 6 Suresh Raina, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Praveen Kumar, 10 Vinay Kumar, 11 Umesh Yadav.

England: 1 Alastair Cook (Capt.), 2 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Ravi Bopara, 6 Jonny Bairstow, 7 Samit Patel, 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Steven Finn, 11 Jade Dernbach.