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As England geared up its do-or-die World Cup against the 'Men in Blue', British High Commissioner to India, Alex Ellis, kitted up for a game of cricket with the students of Prerna Girls School in Lucknow on Sunday.
Ellis tried his hand at batting, even attempting a flick off his pads, during his timeout with the students on Sunday. Sharing his experience of playing cricket on the street of Lucknow and also weighing in on the big-ticket World Cup clash between defending champions England and hosts India, who are yet to be beaten in the tournament, Ellis told ANI, "I'm very excited to be in Lucknow. It's the most beautiful city. I am a little anxious about the game because India are playing very well and England are not playing so well. But I hope that we're going to see a really tight game. There are some great players on both sides. It's just a pleasure to be here in Lucknow." Saying that India, on current form, appeared to be the favourites to lift the title, the British High Commissioner to India said, "I think India looks the best at the moment. Australia are coming through nicely. I think they look strong as well. South Africa's batting is superb. Probably India would be the favourite, I would think. I'm very excited for today's match. I've seen England and India play many times before. It's usually a good game, so I hope we'll have the same today." While India's victories in all its previous matches after restricting their opponents in the field and chasing targets with lots of balls to spare, England might put the hosts under pressure if the coin flips in their favour on Sunday. The defending champions hold a 4-3 lead over the hosts in head-to-head encounters in ODI World Cups, India appear the favourites on paper and on current form. India: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav. England: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Brydon Carse, David Willey, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes. (ANI)
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