THE EDGE: Our cricket tipster The Edge previews Sunday’s 3rd ODI between ENGLAND v INDIA with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
MATCH OVERVIEW:
After two incredible ODI’s, we have a series decider on Sunday on Betdaq Betting Exchange! It’s fair to say that these two sides are the best two batting sides in the world, but we’ve had two batting collapses which has led to the two results so far. England took all the headlines collapsing all out for 110 in the 1st ODI, and then India only managed 146 chasing a relatively low score of 246 on Thursday. As discussed in my preview of that game, Lord’s hasn’t been known as a high scoring ground but to not chase down 246 is still very disappointing. It will be fascinating to see who comes out on top here – the batters take all the headlines but you have to say the two bowling units have been superb.
Reece Topley took an English record in an ODI, taking six wickets for just 24 runs! He didn’t take Virat Kohli’s wicket, but he could only manage 16 and that goes down as another very low score on his poor run of form. The pressure must be immense – at the start of the white ball part of the tour the BCCI basically said if he didn’t score he would be dropped, and here we are in the final game and he has yet to put a score together. It’s interesting to see the odds flip flop over to England being favourites now after the 2nd ODI. The truth is there really isn’t much between these sides, and we should have another cracker here.
This is the biggest cliché is sport saying that “the team who plays the best cricket on the day will win” but this really applies here. The two batting line-ups are superb, and you also have two bowling units performing with confidence – it really depends who copes with each other the best here. I do feel that India have a slight edge – that was their first batting failure of the tour and their bowlers have been well on top. What an interesting game to enjoy though!
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
It seems so long ago that we were supposed to have the 5th Test at Old Trafford, and it is kind of fitting we end the tour here after the Test got moved. It’s nice that it’s a series decider, and we usually have a nice wicket in Old Trafford. We haven’t had an ODI here since 2020, but we did have three against Australia. The first inning scores were 294/9 (won), 231/9 (won) and 302/7 (chased down). Interesting that the highest score was chased! We do have a heatwave in the UK at the moment, and the Old Trafford wicket ca get very dry – I would keep an open mind going into this game, we could possibly have a spinning wicket and tough conditions.
RECOMMENDED BET:
Obviously with two fantastic sides, you can pick positives and negatives for both. For me it all comes down to the odds, which it always should, and I would have India as slight favourites. There really isn’t much in it, but India are the value bet at 2.06 in my opinion. Their bowlers have performed very well for the whole tour – even in the Test they set England a score most sides wouldn’t chase, and even England wouldn’t have chased it last season before their new approach. England were very impressive with the ball on Thursday, but in general they have conceded more runs and their batting didn’t really fire either. I think India have a lot more going for them here and should be favourites.
The Edge Says:
Two points win India to beat England at 2.06 Betdaq Exchange.
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/3EngInd
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
It’s nice to have some set in-running plans before heading into a game, but for this game I feel the best approach is to keep an open mind. For starters, I would be worried about the batting conditions given the heatwave and I’d want to see how the wicket is playing before getting involved in a set strategy. If we do have a spinning wicket, it could be very difficult to chase so it might pay to get on the bowling team in the second innings if they have a good total to defend and haven’t collapsed. We’ve had a lot of success taking on Virat Kohli this tour, and I don’t see a reason to stop that tactic.
