India and England will conclude their preparations for the Champions Trophy on Wednesday when they meet in the third and final ODI match between the two with Ahmedabad providing the venue for the closing contest.
India have already won the series and have a last chance to finalise their side ahead of the beginning of the Champions Trophy next week. England will be looking for a confidence boosting win to take to Pakistan with them.
India
India have controlled both of the matches in this series so far and have won them with more than a little bit in hand, even though the eventual winning margin might have been tighter than it might otherwise have been. They have largely won this series with the ball even though they haven’t kept tabs on England at the beginning of the bowling innings but once the spin has come into play they reeled things back nicely and controlled things from there.
The big thing for India so far is that the majority of their bigger hitters with the bat have had time in the middle and contributed heavily to the scoring. If they have a confident and firing batting unit going to the Champions Trophy then with conditions to suit you would imagine they will be a very tough nut to crack. Having wrapped up the series they have the opportunity to get time in the middle to those who need it before they head off to the UAE.
England
We have seen a typical England performance in the opening two matches. They have got off to a decent start in both matches with the bat and then they have stumbled against the spin but when they have recovered to a position where they could impose themselves on the game some brain dead decision making has held them back and in the end they have come up short with the bat in both games. In both matches they have had the lower order in after 40 overs and you can’t afford that in this part of the world.
England have toiled hard with the ball in this series, especially when you consider that at no point have they really looked like having enough runs on the board to defend, but they haven’t quite been able to break up the one partnership that has got going and taken the match fully away from them. Both of the matches have come from them posting a total and it will be interesting to see if they fare any better when they are given a total to chase down. We might find out here.
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Team News
India are expected to bring Kuldeep Yadav back into their side after he sat out the last game. Ravi Jadeja could be someone who is rested after a strong work load. Rishabh Pant could come in for his first match of the series.
England have called Tom Banton into their squad for this last ODI and as cover for the Champions Trophy and they might look to get a game into him before they head to Pakistan. With this being a dead rubber it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Jofra Archer rested again.
Betting
The one thing we have seen with India in this series so far is that they come out firing with the bat but even when they have the innings under control they don’t just seem content to just knock the ball around and things. They go after the bowling throughout and look to get the match won quickly. It helps that England keep on bowling part-time spinners at them but even the seamers have been put under pressure and in truth England haven’t responded anywhere near good enough.
We know what the England fielding plan will be in this format under Brendon McCullum. They will set aggressive, attacking fields in the search for wickets and not really worry about the boundaries they concede hence why they have conceded 38 in the defence of 248 in the opening game and then 43 when defending 304 in the second one. We know that the outfield is fast here in Ahmedabad and India aren’t likely to change their approach so with that in mind the 34.5 boundary line looks perfectly attainable to me.
Tips
Back India – Over 34.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
