India v England 2nd Test ...... Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part Two




Friday 19th December, Mohali 04.00 GMT

Weather

'Reasons to be cheerful' was a big hit for Ian Drury and the Blockheads, and part one of this two test series certainly put the smiles back on the faces of the Indian population after the horrific events in Mumbai two weeks earlier.

India and England produced one of the greatest ever Test Matches, culminating in an amazing run chase of 387, a chase masterminded and finished off by the son of Mumbai, Sachin Tendulkar.

The victory led to amazing and emotional scenes and Tendulkar was quick to recognise that whilst a cricket game could never heal the suffering of the bereaved or injured, it may play a small part in the recovery process.

After the first three days, an Indian victory seemed impossible. It was clear that India would have to chase down a massive total of around 400. Considering the previous highest chase in Chennai was 155-9 and the highest ever in India was 275, even the most optimistic Indian fan realised the magnitude of the task.

Late on day four however saw an amazing turnaround. Instead of posting the expected 400+ target, England collapsed and had to settle for a lead of 387 after declaring at 311-9.
 
The start of the Indian chase saw one of the truly sensational counter attacks in Test history as Virender Sehwag let loose. He blistered his way to 83 off just 68 balls to dramatically shift the momentum of the game India’s way. Graeme Swann eventually trapped him LBW, but with India closing day 4 at 131-1, all results were possible going into day five.

The dismissal of the out of form Rahul Dravid early on the final day and VVS Laxman very shortly after lunch saw India reeling at 224-4. England would have fancied their chances at this stage; however some disappointing bowling and a master class from the little master Tendulkar, aided by a great innings by Yuvraj Singh, saw India home to send the home crowd and the millions watching on TV to delirium.

Whilst England will have been bitterly disappointed to have lost a game they dominated so much in the first three days, there were reasons for them to be cheerful too.

Considering the lack of preparation for this game, the travelling to Abu Dhabi and the uncertainty about the fixture, this was a great performance by England. They will have been heartened by Strauss scoring a century in each innings as well a welcome return to form of Collingwood.

Now we move on to part two of this series, at Mohali what’s in store this time?

England will go into the match with confidence having got so close at Chennai. But India will go into it with even more confidence after their Houdini act and they know that this Mohali pitch is one of their favourites.

They thrashed Australia by 320 runs here only two months ago. More relevantly, they emphatically beat England on their last two visits by 10 wickets and 9 wickets, and overall, India has only ever lost one test at Mohali and that was against West Indies in 1994.

The pitch here has traditionally been a sporting one. True bounce and the ball coming onto the bat for the batsmen, nice carry and pace for the seamers and plenty of turn on last couple of days for the spinners.

I expect India to go in with an unchanged team. England have Stuart Broad fit again and they may be tempted to recall him at the expense of either James Anderson or one of the spinners.

Ok, so what’s the bet?

There has been money for the draw in last couple of days. This is mostly based on the expectation that some overs will be lost in this test. At this time of the year, the light in Mohali tends to fade very fast and there is a possibility that we could lose a few overs in each of the last sessions of the day in this match.

I think this draw price is an over reaction, but don’t get me wrong, I am certainly not complaining!

The upshot is that India are available at odds against when I would have expected them to be odds on. They have amazing record on this ground,  most of their batsmen have made big runs on this pitch, they are playing amazing cricket against England at the moment winning all 6 games on the tour so far.

India SHOULD be short odds on against any team at Mohali, they have won emphatically here in last two tests and if there are some overs lost to bad light, I believe the only effect would be that they win less effectively!

My suggested bet for this Test is:

BACK India for 5 Points @ 2.3 on Betfair .

Join me and hopefully we will all have some more reasons to be cheerful.

Bigjoe.