Having returning to their winning ways, India will look to plug the loopholes and sustain the momentum against England in the third one-day international in Birmingham on Tuesday.
The Indians bounced back from a crushing 104-run loss in the first one-dayer to post a narrow but hugely morale-boosting nine-run victory in the second match at Bristol on Friday.
The top order, which came a cropper at Rose Bowl, boomed to a stunning effect as the tourists ran up a commanding total of 329 for seven to turn the tables on the hosts.
Sachin Tendulkar was once again in his elements, carving out a well crafted 99, but more heart warming must have been the hurricane 92 not out by Rahul Dravid.
The skipper made a 'tongue in cheek' remark while receiving the 'man of the match' award that "it was nice to play a knock like this, particularly after making 12 runs off 96 balls" in the Oval Test.
And Yuvraj Singh, who was forced to warm the benches during the Test series despite his good form in the one-dayers against South Africa, was his flamboyant self although wrong shot selection caused his downfall.
Let us just say, as Dravid himself mentioned, that the conditions - a good pitch and shorter boundaries - made it a perfect day for the batsmen to play their strokes freely. And that might also explain the close margin of the result.
Yet, the Indian think-tank would do well to take a look at their bowling, especially in the closing stages.
Bowling at the death has been a problem for India in recent times, and it wasn't any different despite the return of Munaf Patel.
The last eight overs, after Ian Bell fell, produced 80 runs in the second match. And a close scrutiny of the Indian bowlers' pitch map in those overs would tell us that there was no yorker attempted.
Both Ajit Agarkar and Rudra Pratap Singh were guilty of banging it in and Dmitri Mascarenhas, a utility player who won the England cap after his good showing in Twenty20 championships, thoroughly relished what was dished out to him.
Munaf too erred in his length when bowling the final over, tossing it up instead of finding the block hole.
This struggle to find the right line and length by the Indians is surprising all the more since they have an exclusive bowling coach in Venkatesh Prasad.
Agarkar's place in the team could come under the scanner after he conceded 67 runs from nine overs.
The Mumbaikar either gave too much width on the off side or strayed downed the leg with the new ball, as a result of which his first four overs cost 41 runs and the initiative slipped out of India's hand.
The selectors could not be blamed if they feel disappointed with him, especially because they would have expected him to lead from the front when pace spearhead Zaheer Khan was absent.
That brings us to the question as to whether Zaheer would be fit for the day match at Edgbaston?
Tendulkar, who took tablets to be fit on Friday, did not come on to the field during the England innings and the team management would be hoping he had recovered fully and ready to play the third match.
But the team can take heart from the performances of the spinners, Piyush Chawla and Ramesh Powar, and their success should encourage Dravid to continue with the five-bowler combination.
Chawla is the classical leg-spinner who is ready to offer runs in exchange for wickets, and the 18-year-old struck it truly rich with the scalps of Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell.
Powar, the more experienced of the two, continued to excel with his variation in pace and length to return economical figures.
But the Mumbai offie will be increasingly under pressure to hold his place in the side if his teammate from Uttar Pradesh improves by leaps and bounds in time to come.
Teams:
India: Rahul Dravid (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ramesh Powar, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Piyush Chawla, Robin Uthappa, Munaf Patel and Rohit Sharma.
England: Paul Collingwood (captain), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravinder Bopara, Chris Broad, Alastair Cook, Andrew Flintoff, Dimitry Mascarenhas, Monty Panesar, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Owais Shah, Ryan Sidebottom and Chris Tremlett.
