Cricket betting tips: India v England
1pt Hardik Pandya to be top Indian batsman in first ODI at 9/1 (Sky Bet)
There have been four One Day Internationals played at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune, the most recent of those in late 2018, with winning totals of 304, 356, 232 (chasing 230) and 283.
England and India scored a little over 700 runs in 2017 with the hosts winning by three wickets with 11 balls to spare but that is one of only two victories in the four games at Pune for India.
The stadium hosted a T20 in January 2020 and India posted 201-6 batting first while in their last Test in 2019, India posted 601-5 before rolling over South Africa for an innings victory. It should be another high-scoring series with both sides lining up without their recognised first choice attacks.
There is little priced up in the way of series markets at the time of writing but with a new wicket being used at Pune for each ODI and both teams boasting stronger batting than bowling line-ups, it will be worth looking to go long on runs if the opportunity presents.
The T20 series carried greater significance in the build-up to the World Cup but the next ODI World Cup isn’t until 2023 and the squads arguably reflect that as well as circumstances.
Only Chris Woakes has taken more wickets than Jofra Archer (30 since debut in 2019) and neither is in the squad. Only Mark Wood and Adil Rashid remain from the front-line bowlers that won the World Cup in 2019 while Joe Root is also absent.
It's a little surprising that Jake Ball (he took 3-67 the last time England were in Pune with the other wickets falling to Ben Stokes and David Willey) has joined Dawid Malan and Chris Jordan on the list of reserves with Matt Parkinson gaining a place in the squad. Seamers have enjoyed plenty of success at Pune in recent internationals and although the spinners could become more influential as the game progresses, England have cover for Rashid in Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone who has worked hard to improve that area of his game.
It will be a useful experience for Parkinson if he plays but the pace of Wood and Archer made an impact in the T20 series and England look light in that department for all that Reece Topley and the Curran brothers provide variation and Stokes support, all at a lesser pace. Wood and Rashid are the obvious favourites in any England line-up for bowling honours but without the same level of support there may be more pressure on them and batsmen may opt to take fewer risks. That is conjecture but worth bearing in mind if you're playing at 3/1 or thereabouts as we've seen, for example, Wood and Archer working so well as a partnership.
It's a not dissimilar story for India who are missing Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja but that has given an opportunity to a pair of exciting quicks in left arm 'Yorker King' Thangarasu Natarajan (who went to Australia as a net bowler but ended up making his debut in all three formats during that remarkable tour) and Prasidh Krishna, who has impressed in domestic cricket and been part of the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise for some time.
The latter has already been talked about as being close to India's T20 World Cup squad and could be given the chance to stake his claim. Both are worth consideration in any bowling markets through the series with the experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar a solid but not formidable likely attack leader.
Since England's crowning moment, they've drawn a truncated series 1-1 in South Africa, beaten Ireland 2-1 and lost to Australia (in England) by the same scoreline.
India have lost their last two series (3-0 in New Zealand and 2-1 in Australia) but have only last one of their last nine at home (3-2 v Australia), winning 22 games from 35 (one tie) including a 2-1 defeat of England in 2017.
It's hard to argue with the 8/15 about the hosts or the 5/4 about a 2-1 correct score which has been the outcome (in favour of the hosts) in the last two series between these sides. The 3/1 about an Indian clean sweep is worth a second look with England nearing the end of a long winter tour (for all that some players have had breaks) and the hosts arguably holding the bowling edge, but the strength and depth in England's batting is enough to hold fire.
Virat Kohli scored an unbeaten 254 in that aforementioned Test at Pune and averages almost 80 at the venue across the three formats having also scored an ODI hundred against England in 2017. He dominates the Indian batting markets (around 5/2 for Tuesday's opener) to the extent that he would normally make little appeal but given that market rival and 11/4 second favourite Rohit Sharma has scored just 71 runs across the three disciplines in five knocks (three ODIs) at the ground, his price becomes more tempting, albeit Sharma's record is obviously from a small sample size and possibly an anomaly.
Suryakumar Yadav, who made such an impressive start to his international career last week, is among three debutants in the Indian squad and prominent in the hosts' top bat market on the back of his fine start but it's worth casting the net a little further afield to a more experienced campaigner.
HARDIK PANDYA is an improving, maturing cricketer and looks value at a big price for Tuesday's opener.
At the start of 2019 he was suspended from a tour of Australia following comments made on a TV show and then had to undergo back surgery following the World Cup later that year. He had a long lay-off from bowling full time and bowled only four overs (in six games) in last year's tour of Australia but completed his full complement in the recent T20 series.
The incidents made the all-rounder, who was once tagged as the 'new Kapil Dev', refocus and he put a lot of work into his batting in the knowledge that he may not be able to bowl again. The hard work during last year's lockdown reaped immediate rewards in the IPL and Australia with scores of 90, 28 and 92* in the three ODIs, top-scoring for his side in two of them.
He batted at six in that last ODI and there is the chance that he could be there or lower with Rishabh Pant likely to come back into the side and others, like Yadav, in contention, but there have been calls in the media for India to make the most of Pandya's destructive hitting higher up the order in T20 which were answered with a resounding success in the final game (39* off 17 at four) and it's possible that experiment could be continued in this format; broad comparisons with Stokes are not spurious.
He can be backed at 9/1 to be India's top bat in the opening game and that isn't a price that takes into account his renewed focus and progress he's made with the willow in his hands. If Kohli and co make hay at the top of the order he may not be afforded the opportunity but the price compensates for that scenario.
The Australian tour may have been exceptional from start to finish but Pandya proving to be one of India's mainstays with the bat could well become the rule rather than the exception and the 27-year-old, who should be approaching his prime, should be backed to prove that in this series - starting on Tuesday.
Posted at 2225 GMT on 21/03/21
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