England v India Test Series In Running

By Bigjoe

Continues 29th July 2011, Trent Bridge.

The mouth watering battle for the No. 1 Test ranking kicked off at Lords. England need to win the series by two clear Tests to replace India at the summit and got off to a dream start with a convincing win in the opener.

Though India could point to the loss of main strike bowler Zaheer Khan through injury on first day as being a major turning point, the fact is that this was the latest occurrence of India being dominated in opening Test of a major series mainly due to them being undercooked through lack of preparation.

In both their recent big Test Series against South Africa, India were humiliated in the opening Tests by an innings. But both times, came back strongly in the remaining tests to draw both series and hang on to their NO.1 ranking. They also overcame a 10 wicket first Test loss in Sri Lanka last year to bounce back and square the series.

Therefore this is not new territory for India. They seem to be  customised to slow starts in series before bouncing back and will be expecting to do so again. England however will not be an easy nut to crack. With momentum on their side and the impressive Ashes victory in Australia fresh in their minds, they will be confident in succeeding where South Africa and Sri Lanka failed.

The market backs their confidence and now makes them in region of 1.3 to win the series. But the same markets were also confident that South Africa and Sri Lanka could also finish the job off after impressive 1st Test wins against India. They were proved wrong then, I believe they will be proved wrong again.

India have shown a remarkable ability to bounce back in series once they have started to acclimatise to conditions. They have a great overall record against England having not lost a series to them, home or away, for 15 years. I believe there is outstanding value in this series in opposing England at these prices and my suggested bets therefore are:

In the Series Outright Market:

LAY England for 5 points liability @ 1.32 at Betfair

BACK India for 2 points @ 12.0 at Sportingbet

In the Series Correct Score Market:

BACK India  to win 2-1 for 1 point @ 13.0 at Sportingbet

BACK Sri Lanka to win 3-1 for 1 point @ 101.0 at Betfair

BACK 1-1 drawn series for 1 point @ 9.0 on Bet365, Sportingbet

Bigjoe