After setback in second game, Men in Blue look to win final ODI at leeds
Their middle-order frailties laid bare in the previous match, India would be aiming to plug the loopholes in Tuesday's deciding third and final ODI against England, where a win would fetch Virat Kohli's men their 10th successive series triumph.
Smarting from their 86-run loss at the lord's after winning the first game in Nottingham by eight wickets, India have their task cut out.
Victory in london confirmed England's spot as the No 1 ODI side in the ICC Rankings. A win for India at Headlingley will only help close the gap and hand them the bragging rights before the Test series begins on August 1.
While India's spinners were in contention throughout, the pace attack lacked penetration, particularly in the death overs. 82 runs were conceded in the final eight overs at lord's, with Umesh Yadav, Siddarth Kaul and Hardik Pandya conceding 62 among them in six overs.
This underlines India's dependence on Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah.
Judging by his exploits on the last two tours to Sri lanka and South Africa, Kumar is a huge miss for India in this ODI series and there is no official word on his fitness or availability yet.
He did bowl in the nets at lord's before the second ODI and is on path to recovery. But it remains to be seen if he will be included in the side for this decider ahead of Kaul or Umesh Yadav.
This series has marked the return of Kl Rahul at number four since that lankan tour. lord's was his first big test, considering the good run of form he has been in lately. But it came to nought, literally.
India have Dinesh Karthik and Shreyas Iyer on the bench. The former has been in fine nick of late, while the latter has two half-centuries in his first six ODIs. Iyer also gave a good account of himself in Port Elizabeth batting at number five.
Despite his slow knock at lord's, it is nearly inconceivable that the team management will consider favouring Karthik ahead of Dhoni.
It is to be noted that the previous ODI was only the third instance on this UK tour where Dhoni got a chance to bat in the middle, after T20 outings in Dublin and Cardiff. In a way, that lack of batting time showed in his incoherent innings.
While Dhoni has the backing of both Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri, once again it underlines India's dependence on the top-order trio of Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma.
In the last two seasons, the trio have scored nearly 60 percent of India's ODI runs and became a cornerstone to the team's repeated successes in this format.
For England meanwhile, not only is this series a chance to improve their record against India. But victory against arguably the toughest opposition they have faced recently will also approve plans ahead of the World Cup in a year's time.
With Joe Root back among runs and the remaining batsmen negotiating wrist spin to a greater degree, their only concern is the patchy form of all-rounder Ben Stokes.
It is understood that he might still be feeling the impact of his recent hamstring injury and is not playing at full steam. But he will continue to be a part of their set-up in what should be a thrilling finale to the limited-overs' leg of this long tour.