The first of five ODIs between the West Indies and India takes place in Trinidad on Friday with both sides having the mutual aim of getting off to a quick start and drawing first blood in the series. This first match could set the tone for the series too with both sides having question marks over them going into the battle.
West Indies
This looks a real tough ask for the West Indies on paper and I say that because they go into the five matches off the back of failing to beat Afghanistan in a recent ODI series. I like Afghanistan a lot but India are a whole new level from them so the home side are really going to have to improve to be competitive here.
I believe the success or failure in this series will come down to the batting as far as the West Indies are concerned. They might not need the 300+ scores we’ve seen around the world recently on these decks but whether they can get the 250s which will give them a good chance of success remains to be seen.
India
I would imagine India will be keen to get back out on the park for a couple of reasons. Obviously this is a chance to put things right after the disappointment of losing the Champions Trophy final on Sunday but also because much has been written about things going on behind the scenes so they can finally concentrate on cricket again.
We can be fairly certain that this India batting line up is going to continue to churn out sizeable runs so the question for them heading into these matches could be how well their bowlers fare. India were playing in England on Sunday so won’t have had much preparation time in the Caribbean and haven’t had a practice match.
Team News
West Indies aren’t likely to be too changed from the side which couldn’t beat Afghanistan in the two matches they played. Shannon Gabriel has been ruled out of this match so Alzarri Joseph should feature.
India have left Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit Sharma out of this series with Rishabh Pant one of the men called up as a replacement. He isn’t likely to start though as Ajinkya Rahane is set to open. Kuldeep Yadav is pushing for a spot.
Queen’s Park Oval
There have been 65 previous ODIs on this ground but this is the first one since 2013. West Indies have a decent record here winning 27 of the 53 matches they have played. They have lost just 22 with four no results. India have an 8-9 record from their 17 games on this ground.
The wicket here can be tricky to bat on so it is unlikely 300 will be needed. I would imagine the side winning the toss will chase as it will be tough to know what a decent score is and there might be some help for the bowlers first up.
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Betting
I’m going to take it relatively easy for this first match of the series for a couple of reasons. We don’t have any recent ODI history on the ground and while there were three T20s here not so long ago ODI cricket is a different game so I want to see the wicket and how it plays first and also India haven’t had a warm up match so they might not be the certainties they might be made out to be if they need time to adjust to what are going to be very different conditions to the ones they’ve played in recently.
I will go with one main bet as well as a top bat bet though. West Indies look a massive price to hit the most sixes in this match. If India do need to adjust then we could see their batsmen struggle to time the ball while their bowlers might be a little short which could be attacked. West Indies don’t change their style. If the ball is there to be hit they will hit it. I would never back against West Indies in this market but at 17/10 I’m more than happy to back them given India’s potential need to adjust to conditions.
While you can trust this West Indies batting line up to belt the ball you can’t trust them to put up scores and it might be worth chancing our arm on Ashley Nurse to be the top batsman here. In two innings against Afghanistan no West Indian registered a single 50 so although he’ll bat down the order the chances are he might not be chasing much. Nurse clobbered 34* and 44* against Pakistan in this format in the Caribbean a couple of months ago and a repeat of one of those efforts could see him steal the top score.
Tips
VOID – Back West Indies most sixes for a 4/10 stake at 2.70 with Coral
Back it here:
VOID – Back A.Nurse Top West Indies Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 46.00 with Betfair
Back him here:
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