Twenty20 / Ed Hawkins / 28 October 2011 /

Revenge has been served and a few of the England players are back home already. This match is a chance for the likes of Alex Hales and Jos Butler to get a game and for India's Suresh Raina to play a big knock.

India

Warning: this may read like a preview from a local newspaper in the shires. Gautam Gambhir, the batsman, is missing because he is getting married.

His place is likely to go to Robin Uthappa. Uthappa is a class act and his average of 18 in Twenty20 internationals rather does him disservice. Yusuf Pathan, the brutish hitter and canny spinner, will also come into the team.

England

Alastair Cook, the one-day international captain, has returned home chastened following the 5-0 whitewash. Graeme Swann will lead the team because Stuart Broad, the official skipper, is injured.

A nice sub-plot to this contest is how Kevin Pietersen will take to being directed by Swann, who criticised KP in his autobiography for not being a natural leader. Then again, KP may miss the match through injury anyway.

Jonathan Trott has also returned home so there could be a spot for Alex Hales at the top of the order. Jos Butler will also be hoping to get a run out.

Venue and conditions

The Eden Gardens was barely half full for the one-day international and the locals are hardly likely to feel inspired to return following England's insipid collapse from 129 for none to 176 all out.

The wicket takes spin - more for India than England, naturally - and MS Dhoni has described it as "ugly".

In the most recent IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders played five matches there and there was a real hotch potch of totals: 163, 81, 132, 171 and 119. Three of the games were won by the side batting second.

Match odds

India are [1.69] to make it six consecutive wins over England, who are the No 1 ranked side in the world in this format and the holders of the world championship. One could be forgiven for backing them at [2.44] on those facts alone.

However, they have largely achieved those heights thanks to players who are not involved this time: Broad, the injured Eoin Morgan and the discarded Paul Collingwood.

Indeed, England will miss Broad and Morgan. Broad is their second-highest wicket-taker in the last two years in Twenty20 with 15 in 13 games while Morgan tops the runs list with 563 in 17.

It is likely that England will trade at lower than their current price but by the same token India could drift. And we would rather be on the side of the hosts at something around [1.90] in-running.

Otherwise, we are not too sure how seriously these sides are taking this game. Both outfits have only had one net session ahead of the game, having enjoyed time off because of Diwali celebrations.

Top India runscorer

Suresh Raina is India's go-to man in this format. He has a fantastic record of 425 runs in his last 12 matches (spread over two years) for India. He should be the go-to man for punters looking for a top-bat bet, too. Look out for prices at around [5.00].

Raina is streets ahead of his teammates in the chart. Next best is Rohit Sharma, who is not involved, with 172 in nine followed by Dhoni with 158 in nine.

Top England runscorer

There are two men to follow for England and they are the batsmen who are most likely to vie for favourite status. Pietersen, with 482 runs, is England's best available batsman in T20 over the last two years while second-best is Craig Kieswetter with 334.
Kieswetter will probably go off at around [4.50] and his recent ground form - he notched a half century at Eden Gardens - may give him the nod over Pietersen who, despite crease occupation and an average of 45 in the ODIs, has not looked at his fluent best.

Recommended bet

India at [1.90] or better in-running

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