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Aussie-beating India gear up for England one-dayers

Mahendra Dhoni's home team takes the field for the first match here just four days after conquering world champions Australia 2-0 in a high-profile Test series to take the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Dhoni was confident his team would take the sudden switch to limited-overs cricket in its stride and was relying on fresh legs to see India through in a gruelling 19-day series across the country.

"Modern schedules demand that we switch quickly from Tests to one-dayers and we have to adjust fast and keep up the momentum," the Indian captain said.

"Besides, not all players in our one-day squad took part in the Tests and they will be fresh and raring to go."

Only five Indians -- Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan -- who turned out for the Test series will play the opening match.

One-day cricket's leading batsman Sachin Tendulkar opted to rest for the first three matches, while in-form fast bowler Ishant Sharma was sidelined for Friday's clash due to a sprained ankle.

England also faced injury worries with left-arm seamer Ryan Sidebottom ruled out of the first match with an Achilles tendon problem and paceman Stuart Broad battling a knee injury.

England, who have not won a one-day series in India since 1984-85, will bank on inspirational captain Kevin Pietersen to lift the side after crashing for 98 in a practice match in Mumbai on Tuesday.

The South Africa-born Pietersen, who replaced Michael Vaughan as captain after the third Test against South Africa in August, won the final Test before thumping the Proteas 4-0 in the one-day series.

England lost the Stanford millions to the West Indies in the winner-take-all game in Antigua on November 1, but coach Peter Moores was confident of taking advantage of India's untimely switch to one-day cricket.

"India will be very buoyant and very up, but will they be able to get down quick enough to be able to deliver in Friday's game?" Moores asked reporters.

"There is also quite a big turnover in personnel and they have quite a few different players coming in.

"We have got the advantage that we are fresh and though Tuesday's practice match was disappointing, it is not going to knock our confidence as a team.

"We are very confident as a one-day team, we have a clear formula of how we are going to play and we want to go and test it out in different conditions in India."

England will also play two Test matches after the one-day series ends on December 2.

England: Kevin Pietersen (capt), Alastair Cook, Luke Wright, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Owais Shah, Ravi Bopara, Matt Prior, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Stephen Harmison, Samit Patel, Graeme Swann.

India: Mahendra Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Rudra Pratap Singh, Virat Kohli, Murali Vijay.