Top 5 run scorers in India vs England ODIs

Freddie Flintoff at Wankhede in 2002, Mohammad Kaif at Lord's in the same year (with Sourav Ganguly the plus one), Sachin Tendulkar and Andrew Strauss at the World Cup epic in 2011, or Kedar Jadhav in Pune in 2017, India taking on England in ODIs has produced some of the finest limited overs cricket contests in recent times.

While the constitution of the sides has plunged and evolved and modified in all ways possible, the intensity of the matches has never decreased. But for the first time, these two sides will face off each other after having established themselves as remarkably radical sides and having outplayed everyone else over the planet, all remains is the deciding series between the #1 and #2 ICC ranked ODI sides, both featuring some of the most destructive names going around in the game. To get an idea of how many white ball stars will be involved, just know that Jos Buttler is not even the best batsman on both the sides in this series.

As the ODI series kicks off today after a fire-cracker of an IT20 series in which India emerged victorious in some style, let us have a look at the most prolific batsmen who have dominated for the most part of the match-ups between these two formidable sides.

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#5 Suresh Raina

India's quintessential limited overs specialist for more than a decade now, Raina has found considerable success against England. Post his axing after the home series loss against South Africa in 2015, this is the first series he has been picked in. A three-year ouster will surely have triggered him to have a larger appetite for runs and a will to put a greater price on his wicket.

Raina was India's most impressive player in the 2014 tour, where after an abysmal Test series, he was instrumental in lifting morales by helping India to a 2-1 win in the ODIs. In the second game at Cardiff, he came in with the team in all sorts of troubles and played one of the best innings by an Indian in blue, his 100 off 75 not only put the target beyond England's reach but was majestic for the flawlessness of its execution.

It will be interesting to see how Raina fares in ODIs with his new technique, of late he has gotten into a habit of creating room outside leg stump to enable himself to carve away balls into the extra cover region, a shot he has always been famous for. His experience will surely be handy as India look to find a reliable man for the number four position, a slot he made his own in his earlier stints with the Indian cricket team.

Runs: 1160 | Avg: 42.96 | SR: 93.24 | 1 century | 11 fifties

#4 Ian Bell

Once England's go-to man for rescue acts in both white-ball and red-ball cricket, Bell excelled in matches against India averaging 13% more than his career average while striking the ball while scoring 110% faster than the norm. While he was one of the scapegoats of the mass make-over of the English side after a horror run in the ICC 2015 World Cup, Bell surely had his moments in the coloured jersey for England, few of them coming against India.

A gifted batsman with fluency and temperament unmatched by any of his team-mates, Bell found a way to score runs when they were hard to come by for everyone else. His stand-out moment was orchestrating England's chase of 227 against the trio of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami and Ishant Sharma on a seaming Dharamsala deck under skies you might as well have thought were borrowed from Nottingham, as he made an unbeaten 113.

In a rejuvenated English line-up filled with blokes who belt the leather out of the ball, Bell's deft strokes are truly missed.

Runs: 1163 | Avg: 43.07 | SR: 85.38 | 2 centuries | 6 fifties

#3 MS Dhoni

India's talisman in modern cricket, Dhoni has never forgotten to turn up the ante in the high-adrenaline matches against England. As of before the first ODI, he has the golden opportunity to become the newest member of the exclusive 10,000 ODI runs club, just 33 runs short of the milestone and reaching there will indeed be the ultimate acknowledgement of one of the most efficient one-day cricketers.

While his role in the side has changed from an emerging cricketer in his earlier encounters against England, to becoming the captain who trounced them in the Champions Trophy title decider and now finally to Virat Kohli's reliable man for all situations. His best performance against England was without a doubt when he, aided by a Yuvraj Singh masterclass, took India from 3/25 to 6/381 at the Barabati Stadium last year. His 134 off 122 balls was laced with six sixes, each a reminder of why he is such a gifted cricketer.

Now a floater in the side to suit the team's requirements in each match, Dhoni is coming off the back of his most productive IPL season to date, and it will make for interesting viewing how he takes on England's trump card, Adil Rashid.

Runs: 1425 | Avg: 45.96 | SR: 88.95 | 1 century | 10 fifties

#2 Sachin Tendulkar

While Australia saw Tendulkar's ferocity in ODI cricket, England were subjected to Tendulkar's stubbornness time and again. Not only was the G.O.A.T of the one-dayers impressively consistent against England at the top of the order over the years, he picked his moments to bring out the best performances. The 2003 World Cup encounter might be remembered for Ashish Nehra's finest hour at the highest stage, despite that Tendulkar's mighty hooks off Andy Caddick's short bowling barrage will be etched in memory.

In 21 years of facing England, Tendulkar saw the face of the game change before him and he adapted all along, not only to the demands of the format but also of what the team required of him. In the 2011 World Cup group stage match, when the pressure of expectations exceeded everything, he remained unfazed by everything, ironically displaying sage like temperament while dispatching Jimmy Anderson all over the Chinnaswamy as the spectators saw 120 of Tendulkar's brilliantly accumulated runs.

Runs: 1455 | Avg: 44.09 | SR: 89.20 | 2 centuries | 10 fifties

#1 Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh's love affair with England was not only limited to his phenomenal dismantling of a prodigious Stuart Broad at Kingsmead in 2007, he did exceptionally well against them in ODIs as well. As one of the left-handers who look invincible at their best and painfully miserable on all other occasions, Yuvraj usually brought out the former side of his game against England. Home or away did not matter, once he saw the familiar faces of the likes of Harmison, Flintoff and Broad

His moment of glory was carting the English attack to all parts of the Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground, Rajkot in the series opener of 2008, where he smashed 138 runs off 78 balls. If that did not leave you gaping in awe, here's a little factoid: he carried a back injury in the course of that innings and for the most part played all the strokes in his repertoire despite wearing a back brace.

While this inning has to be mentioned for the sake of sheer freakishness and the spectacle of it, he also had a great role in getting Ganguly to give England a shirt wave for a shirt wave, only that he managed to do it at the most hallowed of all cricket venues, Lord's.

Runs: 1523 | Avg: 50.76 | SR: 101.60 | 4 centuries | 7 fifties