Hussain looks for an emotional win at birthplace

Chennai, India, January 24: Nasser Hussain returns to his birthplace on Friday to lead England in the third one-day international against India and is hoping for a win to mark the special occasion.

"It is a huge game for me," said Hussain, who was born in this southern Indian city before migrating to England as a five-year-old in 1973 with his family.

"A lot of who I am, as a man and a cricketer, is down to my dad, Joe. It is a big match for me because it is such a big game for him.

"I am proud of what he has done for me, and as his roots come from Madras, I am proud to be back there."

The Hussain family is planning a celebratory dinner during the team's brief two-day stay in the city.

The England captain added, however, that his loyalty had never been divided.

"I have always been English," Hussain said. "I am proud of my roots, proud of my English side and proud of being England captain."

Hussain, whose team is deadlocked 1-1 in the six-match series, also praised Indian crowds and said the tourists had enjoyed the tour.

"Everywhere the team goes, people have been waving at us," he said. "There has been no booing. They clapped my 50s in Tests. They appreciate good cricket out there.

"They are just mad about (Sachin) Tendulkar, that's all."

Hussain said his team would continue to pressure the hosts in Friday's day-night match to gain the psychological advantage in the series.

England lost the opening day-night game at Calcutta by 22 runs, but came back strongly with a 16-run victory in the second match at Cuttack on Tuesday to level the series.

Fielding was the key to the tourists' success, running out three frontline Indian batsmen, Sachin Tendulkar, Venkatsai Laxman and Dinesh Mongia.

"They (England) were far superior to India in the field," said former Indian batting great Sunil Gavaskar in a rare tribute to the Englishmen.

"India's running between wickets was awful. It was the lack of judgement of a run that was the worrying factor. India have a lot of problems to overcome and most of them are in the head."

One of the main problems for the hosts is skipper Sourav Ganguly's form.

Ganguly, with just three half-centuries in his last 27 Test innings, has been struggling for runs for more than a year.

He hardly looked his best in the previous two matches against the tourists, scoring 42 and 14 before throwing away his wicket to rash strokes.

Both teams will name their playing elevens on Friday.

India (from): Saurav Ganguly (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Venkatsai Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Hemang Badani, Dinesh Mongia, Anil Kumble, Ajay Ratra, Harbhajan Singh, Sarandeep Singh, Javagal Srinath, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Sanjay Bangar.

England (from): Nasser Hussain (capt), Andrew Caddick, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, James Foster, Ashley Giles, Darren Gough, Matthew Hoggard, Ben Hollioake, Nick Knight, Owais Shah, Jeremy Snape, Graham Thorpe, Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan.

Umpires: Vijay Chopra (Ind) and Devender Sharma (Ind).