England v India First Test Player Tips: Rahul and Woakes two to follow

• KL Rahul expected to have big series for India

• Woakes primed to build on outstanding record

• Read the first Test preview HERE

• Read the ultimate guide to the series here

• Free £5 Bet when your First Innings Top Bat pick hits 50. Bet here

Check out the ultimate betting guide to England v India on this week's Cricket... Only Bettor!

England v India
Friday 20 June, 11.00
TV: Live on Sky Sports

Top India first-innings runscorer

The retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli mean the tourists have arrived without the need for a red carpet for the ubiquitous batting deity that often accompanies their visits. Gavaskar, Azharuddin, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Rohit, Kohli were all used to being the big draw, taking the pressure off team-mates individually, sometimes collectively.

There is no such focus this time. Instead India are looking around for someone to put their handup and say 'follow me'. It is most likely to be KL Rahul, whose career has been solid and unassuming enough that Cricinfo haven't updated his profile since 2016. 

Rahul has hardly been the first name on the teamsheet in his 58-Test career and has batted in every position from Nos 1-6. When the the bulb goes out on the billbaord it is he who puts things right. There won't be much clamour for him among the fanboys at the start of this tour but there could be at the end.

His expereince in English conditions make him hugely important to India. His 18 innings are the most of his teammates with only Rishabh Pant and Ravi Jadeja able to come close. The new skipper, Shubman Gill, has played six innings in England (average 14). Without the pressure of captaincy Gill would have been expected to take over from Kohli et al.

Our man has a healthy average of 34 in England with two centuries. He hit 149 at The Oval in 2018 and 129 at Lord's in 2021. We would be very surprised if a man renowned for a tight technique, patience and the knowledge to play late did not have a runladen tour. He has warmed up nicely for the action with 116 and 50 for India A against England Lions at Northampton. There was also another 50 in an intrasquad match.

How best to bet him? We were hoping that he might be given a new role in the middle order but it seems that India will trust him in his preferred opening role. That might take the gloss off a little for 9/25.50 for top bat. Instead we're going to play safe and go over his first-innings runs at 26.5 at 5/61.84, a repeat from the Best Bets on Cricket...Only Bettor (see below) He is 11/26.50 for a first-innings century.

Get live Test match predictions on Betfair Predicts 

First-innings top-bat special

Betfair are offering a special on top-bat bets for the Headingley Test. Win or lose if your selection makes a 50 a £5 free bet is available. Rahul, then, could be a double winner.

On a short, two-year study form for away Tests (home conditions are completely different so are considered less relevant) Rahul has two wins in seven. 

For England, Harry Brook has nine half-denturies in the last two years (17 innings) in the first dig. He is also England's most likely in terms of win rate for top bat returning 22% of the time.

Joe Root will be all the rage, of course. But he is never value to win in the first innings with a consistently low win rate way out of line with his status as favourite. Sure, you will get your free bet when (on two-year form) a 17.3% chance doesn't win but you may as well just back him for a 50 straight up at 13/82.63. He has six wins in 22, which isn't outstanding, either.

As discussed on the COB below, Root is the value in the second-innings and rates in-play value. Huge value in fact because his win rate more than doubles in the second dig. 

Top first-innings wicket-taker

Chris Woakes, with greying hair and that narrow wise-eyed focus, would do a good impression of an accountant with the addition of some well-chosen spectacles. And it is his forensic eye for technical faults which mean that he could have very little to beat this summer for top England bowler in the first-innings of the five-Test series.

Woakes is fastidious in his work these days. Or you could call him a master craftsman at work, honing his own technique to find the seam and swing. eam-mates are more brawn, pace and boucne. There's a place for that, of course but we need brains. Woakes'  record suggests he is doping a super job. Woakes has five wins in 12 in the last two years on top England first-innings bat, a 41% win rate.

It is a study sample strong enough to take seriously. Thrust back into the XI when the bowling group was unsettled after the twin retirements of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, there were always snippets of evidence that he was value on previous form but now there can be no doubt.

Indeed Woakes' record is so good that he could rue being born in the wrong era. He matches the strike rates of Anderson (55.5) and Broad (53.8) in his Test career with a mark of 54.6 and in home Tests he has been more dangerous than the great pair. Woakes has a strike rate of 40.5 in 30 tests comapred to Broad and Anderson at 48.5 and 50.5. Sportsbook offer 23/103.30 that he takes most first-innings wickets.

For India, Jasprit Bumrah is the right favourite at 6/42.50. He has five wins in the last seven away from home and took an astonishing 32 wickets in Australia. A titan of a bowler, he will surely cause England problems. And it's important to note that chances to back him could be limited to four Tests. It would be a surprise if he managed to play all five. Depending on the rhythm of the series, missing out on game three looks most likely at the moment. 

Now read the best cricket Tips here!