India continue their home international spell on Wednesday when they begin a three-match Test series against New Zealand in Bangalore, a series which starts the build-up to an intriguing trip to Australia later in the year.
India are one of the best Test teams in the world but New Zealand are a proud bunch who can often deliver the goods in away conditions and they’ll be looking to show that they can compete with the best away from home here.
India
India go into this match off the back of a recent Test series against Bangladesh which was a lot more competitive than it might have looked on paper but one in which they got the job done in the end. They will need to be better in this match and will need to have put the recent white ball cricket that some of their players have been playing behind them but India don’t have a brilliant home record for no reason and they will be expected to show why here.
They are going to have to work a little harder with the ball in hand here, especially on a ground which is often good for batting, as New Zealand have a decent batting unit but actually the difference here could be how India bat. If they can bat New Zealand into the dirt they could well pick up the pieces later in the match. This is an aging India side though so if they are in the field for a lengthy period of time things could get interesting.
New Zealand
New Zealand arrive in India off the back of a disappointing time of it in Sri Lanka last month where they were pretty comfortably beaten in two Test matches so they are going to need to show a lot of improvement in this series if they are going to have any joy in it. They will hope that those matches have sharpened them up a little bit but they haven’t had any warm up games in India so once again you wonder if they will be a side who naturally improve as the series goes on.
If New Zealand are going to offer anything in this series then their bowlers are going to need to keep tabs on the Indian batting. If they let India get away from them with the bat and get into a position where they are only batting for draws the home side will smell blood and it will be a long few weeks. It goes without saying that New Zealand will have to bat well too but there are a couple of classy operators in this side so if they have a good series the Kiwis are a chance.
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Team News
Shubman Gill is a doubt for this match with a stiff neck. If he doesn’t rock up well then Sarfaraz Khan could come into the side. The other decision would be whether to play three spinners or the extra seamer and that choice is likely to be between Akash Deep and Kuldeep Yadav.
New Zealand have been rocked by an injury to Kane Williamson which will deprive them of their best batter for this match. Will Young has been confirmed as his replacement. Mitchell Santner could lose his place to Michael Bracewell after a disappointing series in Sri Lanka.
Betting
It has to be said that this opening match is at the mercy of the weather gods this week with substantial rainfall predicted in the Bangalore area for at least the opening two days of the match. We saw in a recent match with Bangladesh that India might not necessarily need all five days to force a win but whether they will get enough time here remains to be seen. It certainly looks as though play with be at a minimum on the opening day however.
That makes me think that the 110.5 boundaries line might be a trifle on the high side. The pitch isn’t going to start off particularly great for batting when we do get out there having been under the covers in the lead up to the match and the majority of the opening day and if India are going to try and force a win they might not bat for long enough to plough the boundaries anyway. If they bat first the Kiwi bowlers should get enough assistance to keep them honest too. If we lose two days to rain then the under looks very good. We only need 200 overs in a drawn game to avoid a void and that is only a few overs more than two full days of play. This feels like a good chance to use the forecast to our advantage and play the under here.
Tips
Back Under 110.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Bet365
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