A busy international winter of cricket begins on Thursday when India and New Zealand embark on a three match Test series. There are a number of big tours coming up over the next six months and this one kicks them all off.
Both sides are looking to make sound progress in this format of the game. Winning this series will help both in their quest to climb the rankings and close in on Pakistan in top spot.
Schedule
1st Test: 22-26 Sept at Kanpur
2nd Test: 30 Sept – 4 Oct at Kolkata
3rd Test: 8-12 Oct at Indore
India
In recent months India have gone from a side who didn’t really care about the Test format to one taking it a lot more seriously. They are playing very well in the long version of the game with three successive series wins. They are gaining real momentum under Virat Kohli’s leadership.
Perhaps the most impressive thing of all in their recent revival has been the fact they have been to both Sri Lanka and the West Indies and won. Whilst neither place would have produced conditions that were alien to them, away series wins in the modern game are never a given so credit must go to them for that.
New Zealand
The Kiwis have undergone a bit of a transition in the last 12 months or so since Brendon McCullum retired and Kane Williamson took over. That is understandable because they are two totally different characters both in the way they play and the style they go about their business. They won’t want to undo the progressive work they have done so this is a big series for them.
New Zealand head into this series off the back of a 1-0 defeat in South Africa last month. Although in fairness that became a one match series after the opening game was washed out after the first day. If you lose a toss in South Africa at that time of the year your backs are always against the wall. They did win a series in Zimbabwe just prior to that.
Head to Head
These two nations have met in 19 previous Test series with India enjoying the upper hand overall. They have won 10 of those series with New Zealand victorious in just five. Four of them have ended all square. They last met in New Zealand two years ago and the Kiwis won that series 1-0. In India there have been 10 series with India winning eight and drawing two which highlights the size of New Zealand’s task here.
The individual match record is much closer thought with New Zealand enjoying 10 Test wins to 18 defeats in previous battles with India. The have drawn on 26 occasions so going into the series India’s position as heavy favourites appears to be justified.
Odds
India head into the series as the 2/7 favourites to win it and that appears to be about right. The question appears to be whether they will win all three matches and they are 10/3 to secure a whitewash. They are the same price to win the series 2-0. If you think New Zealand can claim a first win in India they are 12/1 to win the series while the draw is a 7/1 chance.
Virat Kohli is an 11/4 favourite to be the top India batsman in the series with Lokesh Rahul a 4/1 chance. Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay both slot in at 5/1.
In the New Zealand market Kane Williamson leads the way at 7/4 ahead of Ross Taylor who is a 7/2 chance with the openers Martin Guptill and Tom Latham 11/2 and 9/2 respectively.
Ravi Ashwin is no bigger than 8/11 to be the top India bowler in the series with Ravindra Jadeja 9/2 and Amit Mishra 6/1. Ish Sodhi leads the equivalent New Zealand market at 3/1. Neil Wagner and Mitchell Santner are both 4/1 and Trent Boult is 9/2.
Betting
I think India will win the series and they might well win it 3-0. There is enough in this New Zealand batting line up that they might nick a draw if a wicket takes a bit longer than usual to break up. We saw the West Indies survive a final day onslaught to draw with India recently so none of the correct scores truly interest me.
There are two I like the look of in this series though and they both come in the New Zealand player markets. In their top batsman market I like the look of the captain Kane Williamson. I think this is going to be a tough series for the visitors and often when that is the case a touring side needs their captain to stand up and be counted.
We know Williamson is the classiest of class acts. He is equally adept at playing spin and seam. It won’t matter to him how the wickets will play and he won’t be inconvenienced unlike some of his teammates could be. This is the sort of series that one hefty innings and a series of starts can result in the leading runscorer. Williamson looks best equipped to deliver that.
With the ball you have to think that this is a series that the spinners will enjoy. So I’m going to leave the likes of Trent Boult and Neil Wagner out of the equation. The latter does still offer some appeal purely because he is such a workhorse. That said these wickets aren’t going to be condusive to seamers bowling long spells with little reward.
With that in mind I’ll go with the spinners so it is between Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner. Santner was given the ball first in both matches in Zimbabwe recently so he appears to be Kane Williamson’s go to man. THis might just give him the edge. Sodhi is sure to bowl plenty of overs too but if he has to wait a while to come on that could benefit Santner. At 4/1 the all-rounder is the call.
Tips
Back K.Williamson Top New Zealand Series Batsman for a 3/10 stake at 2.75 with Bet365
Bet here:
WON – Back M.Santner Top New Zealand Series Bowler for a 2/10 stake at 5.00 with Ladbrokes
Bet here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2016
