STAR PREVIEW: England v India Fourth Test

Momentum can be everything in sport and the thrilling test series between England and India is now up for grabs after a dominant win at Headingley for Joe Root’s men last week.

That series levelling win leaves both sides level with two more tests to come, and the market has the two finely balanced – England and the series draw are 17/10 with Star, whilst India are 9/4 for what would be a sensational away victory.

The match odds have flipped from last week as well, and whilst an element of caution is needed in responding to the last game, England look capable of taking a series lead and make plenty of appeal at 5/4 for victory in London.

There’s the possibility that the Headingley test was an outlier – the first two games had been nip and tuck – but the changes England made appeared to improve their performance notably and it’s quite possible that Joe Root has a much better immediate setup after some enforced changes.

James Anderson has been absolutely wonderful during this series, setting the tone with an unplayable first innings spell that saw him dismiss KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli within the first hour, but he was exceptionally well backed up by Ollie Robinson – who took seven wickets in the match – and the returning Craig Overton, who picked up six wickets throughout the match.

Anderson will gain deserved plaudits for his first innings spells but Robinson and Overton sealed the victory with the new ball in India’s second innings and Chris Silverwood has the option of Chris Woakes and Mark Wood this week as both are back in the squad, whilst Moeen Ali may be able to get more turn this week than he has so far.

That means England will be well stocked in the bowling department – a traditional area of strength – and whilst it’s only been one innings, perhaps we could see a change in batting fortunes, too.

Haseeb Hameed and Rory Burns put on 135 for England’s first wicket last week, with Burns making 61 and Hameed 68, before Dawid Malan put together an assured 70 on his return to the red ball side. That laid the platform for yet another Joe Root masterclass – his 121 appeared inevitable from the early stages of his innings – and India were always fighting a losing battle afterwards, with England making 432 after Bairstow and Craig Overton scored handy runs (29 and 32 respectively).

Things may not always go that well, but that top order looked more solid and well balanced, and as said in the series preview – arguably gives England batting options down to everyone but Anderson, although Wood may come in.

England v India
4th Test, India Tour of England
The Oval, London
Thursday 2nd September – Monday 6th September
Live on Sky Sports Cricket HD from 10.15am

India’s overall totals through the series have been respectable – they posted 278, 52/1, 364, 298/8d before Headingley – but there’s a feeling that it’s heavily reliant upon Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul to make decent totals, and without them it’s decidedly shaky. India were all out for 78 at Headingley (when they’d made it to lunch with 56-4) and then lost their last eight wickets for 63 on the fourth day, despite a much needed 91 from Cheteshwar Pujara.

Ajinkya Rahane (who averages 19.00 in this series) has averaged 26.25 since the start of 2020, with Cheteshwar Pujara (27.56) and Virat Kohli (24.68) not much better, and India’s tail – apart from that session at Lord’s, has been much more fragile than England’s.

India may enjoy the flatter and more spin based batting track of The Oval more than other series – especially with Ravi Ashwin retuning after taking six wickets here for Surrey last month – but England’s deeper batting line-up and bowling variety could give them the edge again and the hosts can take a lead into the final test.

In terms of innings bets, 9/4 about Jimmy Anderson taking the most first innings wickets can’t be ignored. The Oval is friendlier for spinners – since the start of 2016, it’s been the best ground for spinners (collective average 29.52) and the worst for fast bowlers (32.38) – but he has 44 wickets at The Oval, and 18 v India in that time, so he has performed there before, whilst he’s taken 12 first-innings wickets at an average of 10.16. 9/4 feels fair about his chances of taking the leading honours.

India may turn to to Ravi Ashwin for their spin efforts – although the 9/4 about Bumrah did make some appeal given how he’s bowled. The top England first innings run scorer could come down to a straight fight between Dawid Malan and Joe Root, with Root taken to make it a sixth straight win in the ‘top innings run scorer’ of this series. At the moment there are no markets for over/under in terms of runs – or indeed, half centuries or centuries, but both would be of major interest.

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BACK Joe Root Top England Run Scorer (1st Innings) 2pts ? CLICK PRICE TO BET at starsports.bet

⚠️ Stakes advised on a scale of 0-10 points depending on confidence from our preview team

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