India have already beaten England in the Test matches and the T20 internationals and on Tuesday they will begin their quest to replicate that feat when the two sides meet in the first of three ODIs to round off the tour in Pune.
In terms of the year, this series is the least important of the three for England given that the Test series came in an Ashes year and the T20s in a World T20 year but there are World Cup qualifying points at stake which will keep both sides competitive.
India
Given that India host the next World Cup in this 50 over format you would think they would be starting to give the format some serious attention, although understandably with the World Test Championship final on the horizon and then a World T20 which they also host, everything has to fit into place accordingly and as England have seen it is very hard to compete strongly in all three formats of the game, especially in pandemic life with bubbles and things.
India only made it to the semi-final of the last 50 over World Cup and that will be something that fuels them moving forward. We saw evidence of that in Australia prior to Christmas when they came good in a series there. In home conditions they should be even more of a threat in this series but a number of their players have played a lot of cricket in recent times, and have an IPL on the horizon so mentally something might give here.
England
As the world champions in this format of the game the onus is on England to stay strong in it for as long as possible and if they want to make a successful defence of their title in a couple of years then this series could give them some clues as to how they want to go about things. Eoin Morgan isn’t going to have his strongest side available for a while but all that does is create opportunities for others to force their way into the reckoning.
Given all that has gone on in the world in the last 12 months or so, this will be just the tenth ODI that England will have played since the won the World Cup 20 months ago so there could be some cobwebs to blow away, although they have played T20 cricket for the last couple of weeks which will help them a little bit. England aren’t always the best in this format when there is something in the wickets so it will be interesting to see how they cope here.
Special Offer
Open up a BetVictor account and bet £5 to get £30 in bonuses! Click the image below for this standout new account offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Responsibly
18+ New Customers only. Deposit, opt in and place a £5 qualifying bet at odds of 2.00 or greater within 7 days of opening a new account; excludes cashed out bets. Receive 2x £10 Free Sports Bets, valid on set events only at odds 2.00 or greater, expires in 7 days. Plus a £10 Game Show Bonus, selected games, wager 40x to withdraw a max of £250. T&Cs Apply. Please Gamble Responsibly.
Team News
India have to decide on their number six for this match and a lot of that decision will come down to whether they want a batsman there or an all-rounder for balance. If it is the latter then Washington Sundar could be favourite. KL Rahul or Suryakumar Yadav could get the spot otherwise. Jasprit Bumrah sits out so T Natarajan is expected to keep his place.
England will be without Jofra Archer for this series after he was sent home for work on an elbow injury after the T20s. From the side that won the World Cup final there is no Joe Root or Chris Woakes either. Sam Billings is likely to come into the middle order with Ben Stokes going up to three. Both Curran brothers are in line to feature.
Betting
I’m expecting a high scoring match here on a ground where the batsmen tend to have the best of things. I would have considered backing England at the prices but the dew is likely to be an issue once again so that probably isn’t a worthwhile play until we know the outcome of the toss. That makes me go back to the scores and if you go by the last two T20 matches then it is fair to say that the batsmen have got to grips with what is coming down and can have their own way here.
The question is whether to go for the runs line, the boundaries one or the sixes line and with the runs line over 600 and the boundaries well into the 60s I’ll side with the sixes one where the line is 14.5. That sounds a lot for an ODI but this is a much smaller ground than any that England have been on before, as evidenced when they played an ODI here four years ago and posted 350 which wasn’t enough. Both sides have plenty of power in their middle order so I’m expecting to see more than 14.5 sixes here.
Tips
WON – Back Over 14.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with BetVictor
Back it here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2021
