Defending champions India head into the Champions Trophy under a bit of a controversy between coach and captain but on the field they look primed to put up a really big defence of their title. Having won the competition in England any doubts over whether they can function in the conditions are easily put to bed and this exciting, dynamic side look genuine contenders once again.
Stats
Best Finish: Champions 2013
Captain: Virat Kohli
Key Players: Virat Kohli & Ravi Ashwin
Tournament Odds: 9/2
Group B Odds: 7/4
Fixtures
Sun June 4: vs Pakistan at Edgbaston
Thurs June 8: vs Sri Lanka at The Oval
Sun June 11: vs South Africa at The Oval
Squad
Virat Kohli (c), Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Shikhar Dhawan, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jedhav, Dinesh Karthik, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Hardik Pandya, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Yuvraj Singh
Strengths
It is very rare that the strengths of an Indian side isn’t with the bat and that certainly isn’t the case here. They have a very strong top three who are all world class batsmen and with experience in abundance in their middle order it is going to take a decent side to restrict this Indian batting line up.
Weakness
There aren’t many obvious weaknesses in this Indian side but one potential area of concern could be a lack of bowling options in their starting XI. Of their main batsmen only Yuvraj Singh offers a bowling option so if a couple of bowlers get hit around an issue could arise in how they manage their 50 overs in the field.
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Betting
I have already taken Shikhar Dhawan and Jasprit Bumrah in the tournament top batsman and top bowler markets respectively and there isn’t any reason to go against them in the team betting. Given that I fully expect India to make the knockout stages of this tournament I’m happy to stick with my outright bets when it comes to India players.
Tips
No Bet
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