After such a strong start to the ODI series in India things have tailed off pretty badly for England and two heavy defeats have left them pretty short on confidence and contemplating changes to their team.
Whilst the bowling has not been at its best over the second and third ODIs it has quite clearly been the batting department that has been letting England down with the tourists not making it past the 160 mark in either match which over 50-overs is a pretty woeful effort.
It looks like wicket-keeper/batsman Craig Keiswetter is going to be the one to pay the price for the team’s general malaise with his Somerset colleague Jos Buttler looking set to replace him with the gloves and at number six. Keiswetter has certainly not been the only man at fault but he is the least senior of the top order batsmen except Joe Root and the Yorkshireman has been one of the few to show some form with the bat.
Buttler comes straight in at a best price of 9/1 with Stan James to be England’s top batsman in Mohali whilst Root who was the highest scorer last time out is a fairly tempting 6/1 with . Alistair Cook remains a good bet in this market though at 10/3 with various bookmakers despite making just 17 in each of the last two innings. He will be desperate to regain some respect after two heavy defeats and conditions should suit England a little more in Mohali where he could prosper.
Despite a marginal improvement in conditions and one alteration to their team, the tourists don’t really look too likely of keeping the series alive with a win. Even if the batsmen begin to fire then the bowlers will have to improve as well with the frontline seamers just not proving effective enough against the Indian batsmen. Jade Dernbach especially has been far too costly and that has caused him to lack the confidence to bowl his numerous variations which are his strong point in the first place.
One of the few highlights for England though has been the off-spin bowling of James Tredwell who has proved to be a worthy understudy for the rested Graeme Swann. He is favourite to be England’s top bowler but at 5/2 still looks a pretty decent price.
India are 8/13 to win the contest with England at 6/4 and at that price neither look good value at all. Obviously it would have to be a heavy bet on the Indians to make much profit and whilst England have a chance you would want better odds than that given the last two matches.
One interesting market that could provide some value is the team to score the most 6s in the match. India are predictably favourites but not by a great deal and can still be backed at odds-against. Bwin offer the best price at 23/17 on the hosts clearing the boundary more than their guests and that looks excellent value given the form of the likes of Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni.
All-in-all it should be a much tighter match than the previous two and it would be a great surprise if England were to fail with the bat quite so spectacularly again. They should at least tip the 200 mark this time around but it still will most likely not be enough to better a resurgent India.
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