Rain has delayed the start of the Champions Trophy final between India and England at Edgbaston here today.
The skies opened up little after England skipper won the toss and elected to bowl. India have fielded an unchanged side while England have replaced Steven Finn with Tim Bresnan.Earlier, the rain stayed away on the morning of the final, but the toss was crucial because of the amount of rain Edgbaston has taken in the lead-up to the match.
Cook won it, and on the greenest Edgbaston pitch of the tournament, they did what was expected: bowl first. Both the semi-finals had begun in similar conditions, and were decided by early wickets from which the side batting first did not recover.England were against the best batting side of the tournament, but also a side that has not had its middle order tested at all. India were expectedly unchanged, retaining the XI that has won four matches in the tournament comprehensively.
England made one change, bringing in Tim Bresnan ahead of Steven Finn. The reason behind the move, it is assumed, is that Edgbaston is a reverse-swing-friendly ground, and Bresnan can reverse the ball.
Teams:
India: M S Dhoni (c & wk), R Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav.
England: Alastair Cook (c), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler (wk), Tim Bresnan, Eoin Morgan, Joe Root, James Tredwell, Jonathan Trott.