India and England renew acquaintances on Thursday when they set off in the second Test of five. The first match was a surprisingly tame draw although England probably took more from that contest than their hosts and it will be worth seeing how this match in Visakhapatnam plays out.
India
They may try and disguise it but I would imagine India took a few concerns away from Rajkot with them. Their bowling looked very tame when their spinners were expected to absolutely dominate and their top order, one or two exceptions aside, looked exposed and not just to England’s seamers either.
That could just have been a legacy of the sheer amount of cricket they have played this year but England went into the series believing that India are a different side against them and nothing India showed in that opening match will have changed that so they need a marked improvement with both the bat and the ball.
England
On the flip side of all that England will be quite pleased with their performance in the first match. If you can’t or don’t win a Test match it is important over a lengthy series to leave having landed a psychological blow and that is exactly what England did. The question now is whether they can build on that.
All the talk heading into the series was how England would struggle against spin with the bat and how their spinners would go around the park against this gun Indian batting line up but that talk was misplaced in the first match, admittedly on a nonsense of a wicket. Those same doubts remain here but another strong performance will soon silence them.
Team News
Virat Kohli has already confirmed that KL Rahul will return at the top of the order in place of Gautam Gambhir. He also mentioned there could be a surprising selection in store too which suggests that they will play the extra batsman in the form of Karun Nair. Amit Mishra could be the one to make way.
England are expected to name an unchanged side unless they either go with James Anderson who wasn’t meant to be available until the next Test or unless Chris Woakes’ niggle is serious enough to keep him out. If England don’t go with Anderson and Woakes isn’t fit Steven Finn could come in.
Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium
This is the first Test match to be held here in Visakhapatnam but the ground has held limited overs international cricket and as recently as last month when India shot New Zealand out for next to nothing in a match which the spin dominated.
All eyes will be on the pitch to see what comes of it. Virat Kohli clearly wasn’t amused with the dull wicket that was served up in the first Test so he will expect one to benefit his spinners. The curator seems to think he has produced a neutral wicket so something will have to give.
Betting
From a betting point of view the first match muddied my mind a little bit. I fully expected this series to be played on five absolute raging turners so to see the wicket which was served up in the first match has made me wonder what is to come so I’m a bit tentative here in terms of number of bets.
One bet where I don’t think the wicket will be much of an issue in is the performance of Moeen Ali. On the face of it the line looks pretty high at 145.5 but I’m not convinced it is high enough. Moeen is batting at five for England in this series and he is one of the best players of spin in the side so I’m expecting him to nail a significant portion of this target with the bat. He should find some assistance with the ball too so an average game should see him to this. Anything special with either and he’ll fly past it.
I’m also going to take a chance that the Indian top order fail with Ravi Ashwin being the one to bail them out of trouble just like you could argue he did in the first Test. Ashwin is an underrated batsman and if he is given enough time at the crease he can score big so at 16/1 I think he is worth a go in the hope Kohli and Pujara go cheaply.
Tips
Back M.Ali’s Performance – Over 145.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back him here:
Back R.Ashwin Top India 1st Inns Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 17.00 with Boylesports
Back him here:
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