Tuesday’s Champions Trophy fixture sees India take on West Indies at The Oval in Group B. On paper this looks to be a cracker, with two teams who play a format that concentrates more on the batting side of their games, as opposed to worrying too much about containment while in the field (unlike England or New Zealand for example, who balance their teams more with a view to defending in the field).
It’s just playing too their strengths, and I don’t think that there is much doubt that both West Indies’ and India’s strengths, lie in their collective batting units. Both sides won their opening fixtures, so lets hope this means that they both go into this match and play with a bit more freedom.
The only previous Champions Trophy match to be played at The Oval so far, was the low scoring affair between West Indies and Pakistan. I’m not going to put too much emphasis on that result as I don’t think it was a problem with the pitch that caused it too be a low scorer, I believe it was more down to poor batting.
The betting for Tuesday’s fixture, sees India as favourites at 4/7, while West Indies are 11/8.
No Denesh Ramdin behind the stumps for West Indies, as he is rightly suspended. Kemar Roach bowled a brilliant spell here against Pakistan last week, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Chris Gayle’s ego to take over, and maybe see him taking on the longer Oval boundaries
Onto the overall Champions Trophy betting, and Pakistan’s defeat yesterday has seen them go out to 66/1, while South Africa are now in to a more respectable looking 4/1.
Champions Trophy Betting
England 11/4
India 3/1
South Africa 4/1
West Indies 11/2
New Zealand 13/2
Australia 10/1
Sri Lanka 14/1
Pakistan 66/1