The Test series between England and India has hit the business end and with it delicately poised at 1-1, the fourth match between the two which gets underway at The Oval on Thursday has a pivotal feel to it in terms of the overall outcome.
England will be buoyant heading to the capital after their innings win at Headingley but India will know conditions don’t suit England as much at The Oval as they did in Leeds and they will feel they can secure at least a share of the spoils with a win here.
England
If you were to write out a complete performance it probably looks a little bit like the one England delivered in the third Test last week. It is becoming a massive trend that England improve as they build into a series and if that continues here then they are entitled to feel very tough to beat. They will want to start series better than they do but we can park that concern until The Ashes as they focus on what would be quite some triumph if they can get over the line in the next two matches.
Usually the big test for an England team is on their batting but conditions should suit their batsmen here so actually it might be all about how well they bowl, especially with another heatwave hitting the UK during the final two days of this match. If they can maintain pressure on the Indian batsmen, even though they won’t get as much swing as they do at most English grounds, then they might well feel they have the tools to get the job done.
India
If it could go wrong for India in that last match it did do so the one thing they will certainly be looking for in this contest is a much faster start. They were right behind the eight ball from the first hour at Headingley and try as they might there was never going to be a route back into it from the position they found themselves in. We’ve seen that this India side are a resilient bunch recently though and they get the chance to show how much that is the case here.
I think it is most important that India bowl well here. The last thing they need is for this English batting unit to build up some confidence because then the tourists will be in trouble. Whether that is through the seam of the new ball or some extra spin, India have to get on top early with the ball in hand. There were signs in that second innings in Leeds that key batsmen were starting to find form with the bat and they’ll hope that trend continues here.
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Team News
England will be forced into one change but might make another one on top. The forced change is because Jos Buttler is away awaiting the birth of his second child so Ollie Pope is expected to return on his home ground. Chris Woakes is likely to replace Sam Curran or Craig Overton too.
You sense after the defeat in Leeds India will choose this time to make changes. There are doubts over the fitness of Ishant Sharma anyway but even if he is fit he could be replaced by Shardul Thakur although all eyes will be on the team sheet to see if there is room in it for R Ashwin.
The Oval
This famous London ground is into the second century of it hosting Test cricket. There have been 102 previous matches here with England featuring in all of them. They have won almost twice as many as they have lost with a 43-22 winning record with 37 draws in that time as well. This certainly isn’t a good venue for India. They have played here on 13 previous occasions and have only won one of those outings. They have been involved in seven of those draws however.
The pitch at The Oval is usually a great one for batting and you get full value for your shots with the many pitches on the square carrying the ball away to the boundary at a rate of knots. Spin does come into the game towards the latter stages though which keeps everyone interested. This is generally a high scoring ground and with dry weather forecast all week you would imagine we will certainly get a result of some kind.
Betting
I wanted to get stuck into this match but all the regular side markets look to have been priced up correctly or there isn’t as much wiggle room in the lines as I would like. There is one side market that gets my attention though and while I am always a little on the reluctant side to take a bet that involves an England team scoring big runs, there really is no excuse for them not scoring well on this ground especially after finding form in Leeds.
If that wasn’t enough then Jos Buttler who is bang out of form will make way and Chris Woakes is a better batsman than whoever he replaces. India are also going to strengthen their batting by the sounds of it and on a wicket which isn’t going to assist the bowlers on either side for three days the runs should really flow. We’re still waiting for Virat Kohli to go big and that might come here in these conditions. Whoever scores them though I think we’ll see more than 1050.5 runs in this match.
Tips
Back Over 1050.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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