We are back to the one match in the ICC Cricket World Cup on Sunday as the event heads back to Lucknow for the clash between the hosts India and the defending champions England, an encounter which probably isn’t as anticipated as it might have been prior to the tournament starting.
This was meant to be a marquee match in the middle of a lengthy group phase but India are going to have to collapse alarmingly not to make the semi-final and England need more snookers than Ronnie O’Sullivan is capable of to make the last four. This isn’t technically a dead rubber but effectively it is.
India
India are now the only team remaining in the competition who are yet to be beaten. While that is something that should be celebrated given the other nine have all lost a game, the truth is it doesn’t really matter such is the elongated format of this tournament. There is every chance the eventual winner could have lost up to three times and still walk off with the title of world champions. It is a sign that they are playing good cricket though.
The positive for India is that they were finally tested in their last game against New Zealand and despite one or two things going against them in the lead up they were able to come out on top. They have chased in all five wins though and so the burning question will be whether they can deliver the goods when they bat first. They haven’t completely ensured qualification for the semi-finals so they probably won’t choose to bat first here but at some point you would think they will want to test themselves in that way.
England
This campaign has been so pathetic for England that it has left many searching the sporting history books for the worst title defences of all time. It is open to debate what that currently is but England are heading right for that title because they have offered very little in this competition so far. They have shown nothing with the bat save for one innings against Bangladesh and even that doesn’t look much of a form line now either.
It probably wouldn’t have mattered what they had shown with the ball because they haven’t been able to put up nearly enough runs in this tournament but their bowling has been all over the place anyway and their last two defeats in particular have had a touch of the embarrassing about it. You wouldn’t want to say a team has mailed it in but if one looks like it has it is this England team. It will be interesting to see what they can muster from the wreckage and what they offer here.
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Team News
India are expected to go in with an unchanged side even if the conditions do offer something for the spinners as Hardik Pandya remains out with injury. That means R Ashwin is going to have to continue to wait for his chance.
England will be forced to make changes after a terrible display. Harry Brook will surely come back in after that pathetic batting performance while it would make no sense to send Brydon Carse over and not play him. Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes would be most vulnerable.
Betting
It is very hard to bet on England matches in this tournament now because they are just not delivering anything close to the levels you would expect from them but if you start opposing them on the side markets the danger is still there should they finally come to the party, which could happen now there is no competitive pressure on them. I don’t really want to trust England either way but I will take one bet which I like here and that comes in the over with the most runs market.
The line for this one is 18.5 and this line was covered in the first four England matches. Even though England stunk the place out against Sri Lanka they did still score 15 in an over so I fancy this to land. There are many scenarios where this lands. England’s batters may come out with no fear and just tear into anything while India’s batters will look to get on top of England’s new ball bowlers who have barely bowled a decent ball all tournament. The other way it lands is if India bats first and tucks into England at the death where they have been absolutely horrendous in this tournament to date. With the likes of Sharma, Gill, Kohli, Root and Brook in decent form they could easily take an over down but the likes of Yadav, Rahul, Buttler, Bairstow, Livingstone or Stokes could easily get stuck in. When and how it comes I expect at least one very high scoring over here.
Tips
Back Highest Scoring Over Total Runs – Over 18.5 for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Betway
