Australia Cricket / Ed Hawkins / 19 October 2010 /

India and Australia meet on Wednesday morning (09:00) to see if they can get the three-match ODI series underway after a washout. Ed Hawkins has the best bets

Team news
India and Australia will try again in Visakhapatnam after their first one-day international was washed out because of rain. Fitting for a series that is a bit of damp squib anyway with both teams resting their star players.

To recap, the home side are without Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma. MS Dhoni, the skipper, and allrounder Yuvraj Singh are the go-to performers.

Much will depend on India's young batting line-up. Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are charged with scoring the runs. Other youngsters expected to shine are Saurabh Tiwary, the 20-year-old batsman, and Ravindra Jadeja.

With the ball, Praveen Kumar and Ashish Nehra could be partnered by Munaf Patel but with no Harbhajan, or Pragyan Ojha either, do India lack an experienced spinner?

Australia, arguably, are more depleted. Ricky Ponting has gone home, sitting next to him on the plane were Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson. Michael Clarke leads and Michael Hussey provides much-needed wisdom but they are short on bowlers.

Doug Bollinger must carry debutant Mitchell Starc and Clint McKay, who has played only 12 ODIs.

Venue and conditions
There have been only two matches played at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, probably because it is such a mouthful. Both were won by India and it is apparent that it is a good wicket to bat on, although the short study period means we should perhaps not bet on it.

India amassed 356 against Pakistan in 2005 and their opponents got close in the chase, reaching 298 at 6.74 runs an over. Against Sri Lanka two years ago India chased down 260 with nine overs to spare.

There were centuries in each of those games. The [2.02] that a century scored might not be the worst wager in the world.

Otherwise there is a threat of thunderstorms that we should be aware of. The Duckworth-Lewis method could be involved and bear in mind the impact that could have in a chase. Remember it can often aid a team chasing a large score. After all, it is easier to go at six an over for 20 overs instead of 50.

Match odds
For the first ODI we thought that India were criminally underrated at [2.14]. The status quo remains and ensures we have a bet which could be classed as a cracker.

As stated previously, India are the only side in the world who can rest key men. No other country has such a deep talent pool and Australia, at [1.83] are way too short to keep their heads above water.

It is with the ball that India have the edge. They have three international class seamers, Australia have one. Sure, McKay and Starc may eventually prove to be world-beaters but until they do...

Top batsman
Despite only two matches played at this venue, it is cosseting to see that Dhoni and Yuvraj have both made high scores here. Dhoni smashed 148 from 123 balls against Pakistan and Yuvraj 95 from 83 against Sri Lanka. The pair are [4.10] and [6.20] respectively for top-bat.
However, in a market quirk Dhoni's price to score a 50 is actually bigger. At [4.60] he is our second must-have wager. Yuvraj is [3.30] for a 50 with Kohli [3.55].

Australia will rely on David Warner giving them a fast start. He is [5.10] to be top-bat and [3.05] for a 50. Michael Hussey might be better value, though at [6.20] and [4.10].

Recommended bets: India at [2.14], MS Dhoni to score a 50 at [4.60]

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

:

:

:

?

: