Cricket Betting: India vs Australia 2nd Test Preview

Even the most ardent fan of Australian cricket wouldn’t have predicted that their side would start the series with a win. Not just any win, Australia were utterly dominant of India at Pune to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match Test series. Action now moves to Bangalore where the second match starts on Saturday, March 3.

Can India recover?
India went into the series as strong favorites after five consecutive series wins. But any thoughts they had on dominating the Kangaroos were vanquished in under three days. The embarrassing fact for the hosts was that the pitch was more suitable to them than the Aussies.

The loss brought the chinks of this famed Indian batting line-up to the fore as over-reliance on Virat Kohli and Cheteswar Pujara was embarrassingly exposed. Although Steve O’Keefe was the star of the show with 12 wickets in the match, the story of the game was the capitulation of the Indian batsmen.

Jayant Yadav couldn’t exhibit incision or control in the first match which makes him a prime candidate for replacement. Karun Nair could be in line for a recall if the hosts decide to lengthen their batting else it could be a toss-up between Bhuvneswar Kumar and Kuldeep Yadav.

Will lightning strike twice?
Give credit where it’s due – Australia were the better side at Pune in all departments. Resilience with the bat and precision with the ball coupled with perfection in the field helped the Kangaroos stun their hosts.

David Warner is due some runs after his twin failures in the first match which should be ominous for the hosts. Steve Smith looked his best and should once again look to score some ugly-but-effective runs.

The Bangalore pitch will definitely not spin from ball one like it did in Pune but the Aussies may not be complaining. They have Mitchell Starc in their arsenal who’s as lethal as any on these kind of pitches. Steve O’Keefe will be in dream land after the performance at Pune although expecting an encore from him is cruel.

Playing XIs
It could be a straight swap of Jayant Yadav for another bowler for India as Kohli has shown inclination to play with five bowlers. But considering the batting failures, there could be a temptation to recall Karun Nair and bolster the middle order.
Australia may start with the same XI or could go for Usman Khawaja in the place of Mitchell Marsh.

Picks
Market still favors India as odds on the hosts winning the match are offered at $2 (William Hill) while an Aussie win is offered at $3.50 (Sportsbet).
With the ball, Star at odds of $3.75 (bet365) and Ashwin at odds of $2.50 (bet365) are favorites to lead the bowling charts for their respective sides.

TIP: India to win – $2 at William Hill

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