A wonderful career comes to an end on Friday when England and India meet in the final match of what has been a fantastic Test series at The Kia Oval. England have already won the series with a match to go but you get the feeling these two won’t do a dead rubber.
With there being nothing on the game from a competitive standpoint the focus will centre on the retiring Alastair Cook who calls time on his international career at the conclusion of this match. All eyes will be on England’s greatest run scorer to see how many he can go out with.
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England
It wasn’t the best performance from England at the Ageas Bowl last week but they hung tough when they needed to and in the end ran out relatively comfortable winners to not just win the Test match but to win the series too. When you consider the trials and tribulations that England have been through over the last 12 months the series win really should not be underestimated or indeed understated.
Once again England’s bowlers were on the top of their game but we are used to that now. This is an extremely competent bowling unit and as ever if England are going to become one of the best in the world again and churn out regular wins then it is their batting that is going to determine that. They need to find a way to put up big runs again.
India
The Indians will have been extremely disappointed to lose in Southampton, not just because it means that they can no longer win the series but also because they were sitting in a wonderful position after the first innings and let England get away from them. They will know the best sides do not let teams off the hook in that position.
India couldn’t quite get the job done with the ball in Southampton and they paid the price. I don’t think too much blame can be attached to their batsmen in the second innings because the pitch was doing plenty by then. Whether they feel they should have put up more runs in the first innings is another issue though.
Team News
England have confirmed that the only change to their team for Cook’s farewell is that Jonny Bairstow will take the gloves back having recovered from his finger injury. Ollie Pope doesn’t get to play on his home ground.
India look set to make changes to their side for this match. They are expected to give a debut to batsman Hanuma Vihari possibly in place of Hardik Pandya while the battered and bruised body of R Ashwin is expected to get a rest with Ravindra Jadeja coming in.
The Oval
There have been 100 previous matches on this famous London ground and England have featured in all of them. They have a winning record in them as well with 41 wins to just 22 defeats and 37 draws mixed in. India have only won one of their 12 matches at this venue but they have drawn seven times so they are hard to beat.
The wicket is usually great for batting to begin with but we haven’t seen many tests on this ground where reverse swing and the spinners do not come into play later in the contest. There should be something for everyone over the duration of the match.
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Betting
This is a dead rubber so I’m not going to go too mad on it. England’s record in dead rubbers in recent times is terrible but Cook’s retirement might focus the mind and make sure that they get the business done so I’ll head to the side markets rather than chance India in this one.
I took Virat Kohli and his performance in the last game and I’m not going to desert him now. He has had a fantastic series and I’m sure he will want to give the fans at The Oval a decent performance after he failed to appear for a stint at Surrey earlier in the campaign. The wicket should suit him nicely and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he has a ton in him before he departs these shores. His line is 102.5 here and I expect him to cover that.
Moeen Ali was man of the match at the Ageas Bowl and he looks a big price to replicate that here should England win. I guess the danger is the sentimental call on Cook but he would need to score some runs. Ali will take wickets here and he’ll probably have a go at a couple of cameos too. This pitch should suit the Worcestershire star and at 14/1 I’ll have a dabble on him to be the man of the match.
Tips
Back V.Kohli’s Performance – Over 102.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back M.Ali Man of the Match for a 1/10 stake at 15.00 with Unibet
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