Australia v India First T20 ODI: Tourists' hitters to the fore

Ed Hawkins
25 January 2016

Tait is back after impressing in the Bash

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Ed Hawkins previews the first of three T20s between the two powerhouses and says there is little talent gap on either side in Adelaide on Tuesday...

"If this were an ODI the odds might be justified but India need only one of their players to come off for an upset"

Recommended Bet
Back India at 2.915/8

Australia v India
Tuesday. 08:30 (GMT)
TV: Live on Sky Sports 1

Australia
Australia should have T20 fever after an enthralling Big Bash season and there are no better opponents than India to continue the craze.

Two stars of the Bash - Chris Lynn and Travis Head - are challenging for Australia's No 4 spot. Lynn was the top scorer in the tournament with 378 runs at incredible strike rate of 173 while Head notched 299 runs at 154.

There is no place, however, for Usman Khawaja who propelled Thunder to their first title. He was only 33 runs behind Lynn in four fewer games.

But with David Warner, Aaron Finch, the skipper, and Steve Smith occupying the first three spots, they would be batting him out of position.

Shane Watson and Shaun Tait, 32, also impressed in the Bash and have been recalled. Tait's inclusion is surprising given he retired from international cricket in 2011.

India
India have also returned to their vintage performers for inspiration on what is proving a miserable tour. Beaten 4-1 in the ODI Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh are expected to upset the form book.

Yuvraj has not played since the World T20 final against Sri Lanka when he wasted 21 balls for 11 and effectively cost India the game. He has been in good form domestically but it is a shame not to see Manish Pandey instead after his ton gave India their solitary ODI win.

Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni make for an impressive front five, however. All-roudner Hardik Pandya could make his debut. Ashish Nehra and Jasprit Bumrah provide pace.

Series odds
Australia are 1.330/100 in an immature market. When it grows up India should be around 3.185/40. That's not a bad price about the tourists considering Australia appear to be using this series as an experiment before the World T20. They have picked a 17-man squad and Warner and Smith will be unavailable for the third and final match.

First-innings runs
The Adelaide track this season is good for batting. In the past it has not been. When Adelaide made 187 batting first against the Stars in the BBL they bucked a significant trend. In group matches over the past two seasons, no team batting first at the Adelaide Oval had scored more than 159. In all games last season the highest total was 148. This season the scores read: 159-187-176-174-143. That is an average of 168.

Match odds
Australia are 1.51/2 and India 2.915/8 and anyone who has followed the Big Bash on this site will know what is coming next: the outsiders are the value.

Betting sub 1.75/7 shots in T20 is a fool's errand because of the helter-skelter nature of the format and with conditions and nuances of cricket reduced to almost irrelevance, gaps between teams are dramatically reduced.

If this were an ODI the odds might be justified but India need only one of their players to come off for an upset. Indeed, it is not hard imagining India's strong batting posting 170 first up and level-pegging.

Like in the ODI bat should dominate ball and we would expect most totals to get chased. That's due to an alarming lack of skill with the ball from two sides who hardly play in this format (another reason why Australia are poor favourites).

Top Australia runscorer
Warner and Finch will go off sub 3.55/2 and Smith probably around 4.03/1. Lynn will be all the rage and you could get 6.611/2. Watson, who will bat at No 6 and is in decent touch, will be pushing 8.07/1.

Top India runscorer
Sharma and Kohli were the top two overall runscorers in the ODI which lends weight to the suggestion Indians were batting for themselves rather than the team. Sharma, who should open, is another sub 3.55/2 shot. Kohli might not be much bigger.

Recommended Bet
Back India at 2.915/8

Ed Hawkins P/L

2016: +7.80
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2013: +250.80
To £10 level stakes (unless otherwise stated), based only on available prices. Does not include back-to-lay in-running match advice or commission rate.
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