It says a lot about the reputation of Indian Cricket that
the hosts are no better than 8/11 to win a series against a team who have kept
them winless in 9 games, but that’s the situation ahead of their first game
with England in Hyderabad.
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. Much has changed in that time though, as the visitors hold the
ranking of No.1 test side in the World following a 4-0 destruction of the
Indian side.
The three Lions are ahead in the ODI rankings too, leading
fifth placed India by just a ratings point going into the series, and given the
state of the Indian team, this resembles their best ever chance of a series win
in India.
At no point during the ODI series did India ever look like winning
– They were 10 balls away from Lord’s but that was a 50/50 with wickets in hand
for England, while they weren’t at all far away from the target – and while
home conditions will bring about improvement, it’s sorely needed.
India are still missing Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan,
Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh are all while Rahul Dravid has retired and
Ashish Nehra has been dropped. It’s lucky for them they can still call on Virat
Kohli, Gutham Ghambir, talismanic Captain MS Dohni and Praveen Kumar, although
their inexperienced middle order reduces appeal despite England being in the
same postion.
Six of the 17-man England squad are on their first tour and
it will be fascinating to see what flat wickets and high temperatures do to Jade
Dernbach, Steven Finn, and Chris Woakes. This isn’t to criticise them, but many
bowlers have been neutralized by Indian pitches and they wouldn’t be the first.
This makes Grahame Swann and Tim Bresnan crucial point of
attack for England and with an ankle problem not doing him too much harm judged
by his buggy driving antics earlier this week, Swann gets the pick for top
series bowler. His ability in India is shown by his 12 World Cup wickets (three
more than Bresnan) and this tour should give him a top chance of the title if
the emphasis is turned to spin.
England’s batsmen struggled in the practice game against
Hyderabad XI but that should have helped them acclimatise to conditions here. Jonathan
Trott is no stranger to this climate while Craig Kieswetter’s burgeoning
confidence will be aided by a strong showing in the Champions League with
Somerset, adding to Alistair Cook and Ian Bell’s experience should prove
something reliable to fall back on. It’s unlikely that Ravi Bopara will end up
being a gamechanger but the higher his confidence, the better his chance of
making a real impact. None of them make that much betting appeal, although
Trott is a really solid option for those who want to play in the market.
Should India come roaring back to life in this series, two
men that are likely to be on the forefront of their challenge – MS Dohni and
Praveen Kumar. When all were falling in
the Test Series, these were the only two who could be seen anywhere, and back
in their homeland they should be be capable to topping the wicket taking charts
for obvious reasons.
The inexperience of the England team in parts should allow
for good opportunities and there’s no way in my mind that Dohni is inferior on
a game by game basis to Ghambir, Kohli, Rahane, Raina and Patel, and he
certaintly shouldn’t be 7/1. Get on win and each/way with Ladbrokes.
As for Kumar, he doesn’t seem to have much in the way of opposition
apart from namesake Virat Kohli and he seems to be the best alternative to the
injured Zaheer Khan, so the 3’s about him taking most wickets seems very fair.
Neither sieges price makes that much appeal – Both teams have
plenty of players out and India aren’t in the form that suggests a win is a
formality – so that’s left alone.
Advice
2 pts Graeme Swann top England Bowler (11/4 Stan James)
1 pt win, 2 pts each/way MS Dohni top India Batsman (7/1
Ladbrokes)
1 pt Praveen Kumar to be Top Series Bowler (3/1 general)
No comments:
Post a Comment