India have an immediate chance to put their Champions Trophy disappointment behind them over the next couple of weeks when they head to the Caribbean for a five match ODI series against the West Indies.
Often these series can be lost in the bigger picture but that might not be the case here. West Indies need the ranking points fast to get up the rankings and avoid having to qualify for the World Cup. India want to get back to winning ways and being the dominant side we know they can be.
Schedule
1st ODI: June 23 at Trinidad
2nd ODI: June 25 at Trinidad
3rd ODI: June 30 at Antigua
4th ODI: July 2 at Antigua
5th ODI: July 6 at Jamaica
West Indies
The time for some consistency has probably passed for the West Indies now but it is imperative they turn up and perform across these five matches. Even if they don’t win enough of them to boost their ranking sufficiently if they can find some confidence and something to take forward should they need to qualify for the World Cup it would benefit them.
In all fairness West Indies are often pretty competitive with the ball no matter what the conditions are but as in all series the overriding factor will be whether they can put up the number of runs needed to win matches. A 1-1 draw with Afghanistan recently does nothing to ease any fears heading into the series.
India
Most of the attention heading into this series for the tourists has been off the field. Anil Kumble has decided that he can no longer work as coach of the side and that always sparks concern looking from the outside in. A new coach is yet to be appointed and that is never a good situation to be in for any side.
On the field India will be disappointed to have lost the Champions Trophy final. Only those inside the camp will know if the defeat was linked to the animosity between the coach and the captain but it was a defeat that could take some getting over. They’ll either be pleased to get back on the horse immediately or they’ll need time to recover.
Head to Head
These two nations have played in 16 bilateral ODI series in the past and India hold a 9-7 lead. They have really dominated recently winning the last six series between the two so they will be full of confidence heading into this one.
Interestingly in matches overall it is the West Indies who have the edge. The two have met 116 times with West Indies having 60 wins to India’s 53. There have also been a couple of no results and a tie.
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Betting
I would expect India to win this series but all the off field stuff is putting me off backing them so I’m just going to focus on a couple of players over the five matches. Both are Indian players who should offer good value in their respective disciplines.
When you go to the Caribbean these days you know you have to play spin well and for me there is no better player of spin in this Indian side than Virat Kohli and I think he will lead by example in this series. Kohli will have even more attention on him than usual given the rift between him and Kumble so here is a chance for him to put all that behind him and get back to doing what he does best which is scoring runs. There is no Rohit Sharma in this series and with the likes of Dhawan and Rahane not brilliant against spin the 2/1 on Kohli to top score over the five matches looks good.
West Indies have just come out of an ODI series where a wrist spinner in Rashid Khan took 10 wickets in two matches so that leads me to thinking Kuldeep Yadav could be value in the India top bowler market. We should point out that he isn’t certain to play from the off but if the West Indies play him like they did Rashid Khan then he could probably afford to miss a game and still be in with a chance. That said Ashwin has been carrying some injuries so maybe Kuldeep will start the series in which case 5/1 would be a big price for him to be the top bowler.
Tips
Back V.Kohli Top India Series Batsman for a 3/10 stake at 3.00 with William Hill
Back him here:
WON – Back K.Yadav Top India Series Bowler for a 1/10 stake at 6.00 with Bet365
Back him here:
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