Virat Kohli's susceptibility to spin in focus ahead of deciding ODI between England and India

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  • Kohli has fallen to spinners in both ODIs so far.

    After an action-packed two ODIs so far, all eyes will be on the decider when England and India clash at Headingley on Tuesday.

    The visitors took the upper hand in the three-match series with a scintillating eight-wicket win in the first ODI at Trent Bridge before England came roaring back with a 86-run victory at Lord’s.

    With all to play for in Leeds, we look at the key talking points ahead of the clash.

    PSYCHOLOGICAL ADVANTAGE FOR THE TAKING

    While the Test series will literally be a different ball game, there is no denying that the victor on Tuesday will take a huge psychological advantage into the upcoming five-match series.

    There has been little to separate the two sides stacked with quality in the limited-overs clashes so far. With India having taken the bragging rights from the T20 series, an ODI victory to boot will put them in great stead for the red-ball action.

    For the hosts, the prospect of losing both limited-overs series will not be an enticing one and they will look to even the scales in that regard before switching over to the five-day format.

    The two sides will tussle to take the psychological advantage.

    The two sides will tussle to take the psychological advantage.

    ENGLAND LOOK TO DECIPHER KULDEEP CODE

    In the first ODI at Trent Bridge, Kuldeep Yadav ran riot with career-best figures of 6-25 as England’s batting-order failed to find an answer to the youngster’s left-arm wrist-spin. Skipper Eoin Morgan spoke about the need to play Kuldeep better at Lord’s and to a certain extent, England, especially centurion Joe Root, did manage to do that.

    However, the India man still managed to remove England openers Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow before dismissing Morgan himself. He might have gone for 68 runs in his 10 overs but Kuldeep did manage to keep the hosts guessing throughout and sow some doubts. With Virat Kohli dropping hints that the 23-year-old could feature in the Tests too, England will want to put on a much more assured showing against him at Headingley.

    England are yet to completely solve the Kuldeep puzzle.

    England are yet to completely solve the Kuldeep puzzle.

    KOHLI’S SUSCEPTIBILITY TO SPIN

    All throughout the limited-overs clashes, the theme has very much been how England’s explosive batsmen handle India’s wrist-spin pair of Kuldeep and Yuzvendra Chahal. While that topic is still up for debate at this point, India skipper Virat Kohli’s own vulnerability to spin in the series has been a surprising turn.

    The best ODI batsman in the world and an excellent player of spin, Kohli has been dismissed by spinners in both ODIs so far. He was outfoxed by an excellent Adil Rashid delivery at Trent Bridge and stumped before being trapped on the pads by Moeen Ali at Lord’s.

    The India skipper has played some excellent knocks in the T20s and ODIs so far but has failed to go on and get to the three-figure mark, which is slightly uncharacteristic for a man who excels at converting half-centuries into tons.

    Kohli fell to Moeen Ali's off-spin at Lord's.

    Kohli fell to Moeen Ali’s off-spin at Lord’s.

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