One of the bigger Test series in world cricket begins in the early hours of Friday morning when India play host to England in a four match schedule which sees the longest format of the game back on terrestrial TV for the first time in 16 years.
India have already made a big splash in red ball cricket this winter with their win in Australia but England looked good in Sri Lanka so we should be in for a decent four matches in what will hopefully be a very competitive series.
Schedule
1st Test: Feb 5-9 at Chennai
2nd Test: Feb 13-17 at Chennai
3rd Test: Feb 24-28 at Ahmedabad (day/night)
4th Test: Mar 4-8 at Ahmedabad
India
India will be buoyed by their victory over Australia over the Christmas and New Year period. To win in Australia is always difficult but to do it in the way they did it on the final day of the series was all the more remarkable. Conditions will be totally different here obviously but the confidence they will carry cannot be underestimated. They would have been confident anywhere because they have a wonderful recent record at home as you would expect.
One of the reasons why India have been very good home and away in this format in recent times is the strength of their bowling attack. In the past they would have been very strong in their own conditions like these but now as we saw last month they are attune at being competitive in all conditions now. When you add into that the quality of batsmanship that they have at their disposal, it isn’t hard to see why they are achieving big things.
England
This was always going to be the big series of the winter from an England point of view but the fact that they go into it having demolished Sri Lanka in a couple of games certainly won’t have done them any harm. If there is a concern over that series win it is that players who you feel will be key here missed those matches. While in these times of quarantine and bubbles and everything else players need to be managed, it might have England behind the eight ball as this series sets off on its journey.
England have been notoriously poor in this part of the world. A huge part of that has been both their lack of ability when playing spin and also their own spinners not being good enough so it might not be a bad thing that India have found a seam attack that they can rely on, as if they give them the conditions to do their stuff it might keep England a little more competitive with the ball in hand. It goes without saying that England will need to be at their very best to come through here.
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Series Betting
There isn’t a huge amount that I’m interested in from a series point of view here because England are likely to make changes between the second and third Test matches and if India go 2-0 up by that time they might think about giving some of their players a rest given that they spent so long in Australia confined to hotel rooms and things like that. That means there is only the one bet that I like the look of.
That comes in the form of Rishabh Pant being the leading India batsman at 12/1. You could argue that Pant might get rested at some point but his heroics in Australia should give him the chance to cement his spot as the keeper-batsman in this side. Those two fourth innings efforts in Australia showed that he can play under pressure and he is the kind of player who could take these English spinners to the cleaners when he is on a going day. That price feels a little on the big side to me.
1st Test Betting
I’m going to build my way into the series as the personnel for both sides haven’t yet been confirmed so I’ll go with just the one in the opener. You would think if England are to have any chance of a major upset in this series their captain Joe Root is going to need to be on it from the start and lead from the front particularly with the bat. He did exactly that in Sri Lanka and arrives here in outstanding form off the back of that series.
He has a performance line of just 96.5 runs which we saw in Sri Lanka he is more than capable of polishing off in the one hit so to speak. You wouldn’t think there will be many matches in this series that England don’t bat out two full innings so Root should get two chances to make his way up to 97 runs. If he doesn’t get there with the bat he’ll field around the bat and I would be surprised if at some point in the match he doesn’t turn his arm over with the ball too. If Root doesn’t get 97 points in this match I don’t see England having a chance so I’ll back the skipper to go well in his landmark 100th Test.
Tips
Back R.Pant Top India Series Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 13.00 with Betfair
WON – Back J.Root’s Performance – Over 96.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Betfair
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