Monday, 24 October 2011

India v England - 5th ODI Preview


Having comprehensively beaten England on all 4 tour matches so far, India will look to complete a series whitewash when they take on England in the fifth ODI at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Tuesday, going some way (in their minds at least) to wiping out the memories of their 8-0 loss combined in all forms of the game on the reverse tour.

The slow turning pitches have seen the hosts dominate in an arena where they’re traditionally strong – As said when the series began, the home side haven’t been beaten by any team other than Australia – Near the peak of their powers at the time – in 13 series of ODI Cricket, and England have been hammered 5-0 and 5-1 on their last two visits in series here.

The visitors have struggled to score big totals on flat pitches where runs are crucial – and their bowlers have lacked the control to stop India’s bastmen from knocking up massive totals. Stuart Finn has been the standout on this tour but the four games still lead to the conclusion that England's one-day game is lagging behind that of the Southern Hemisphere.

As far as tomorrow is concerned, the world famous Eden Gardens is usually a good surface for batting with an average first innings score of 270, four sides having 300 or more in that time. India have gotten to that mark twice already in this series and on the other occasions, they have not been required to do so.

This makes Victor Chandler’s offer of 8/11 that they post the highest innings score at home yet again very tempting, and it’s taken.

Two cornerstones of India’s success so far this series are Virat Kohli, who has scored 37, 112, 35, and 86 so far this series – Making a match target of 30 more than worth taking on that basis, backed up by the fact that a previous appearance saw him score 107 off 114 balls here against Sri Lanka.

Gutham Ghambir has thrived where the grass is greener for him – India, where he can smash the ball all day without and fear of variation and swing to help opposition bowlers – and his series totals of 32, 84 and 58 before just 1 have seen him back to his best this time around. He can be backed to make 29 and go some way to propelling India to the highest opening partnership too.

Advice

3 pts India to have highest Innings total (8/11 VCBet)

2 pts Virat Kohli to make 31 or more runs (5/6 Ladbrokes)

2 pts India to have Highest Opening Partnership (10/11 Blue Sq)

2 pts Gutham Ghambir to make 29 or more runs (5/6 Ladbrokes) 

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