India v England 3rd Test latest odds, news and free bets
There is little doubt that Panesar will retain his place in the team for the 3rd Test at Kolkata and the big decision is whether Stuart Broad will remain in the team when Steven Finn is queuing up to be included after recovering from injury.
England can be backed at 11/4 (bet365 £200 free bets) to claim back-to-back victories in this series and move into the driving seat when it comes to being the first English side to win a series in India for over 20 years.
It’s a decent price when you consider their total dominance in Mumbai where the Indian batting order couldn’t live with the spin bowling of Panesar and Graeme Swann. The pair are highly-rated by Geoffrey Boycott who claims they are head and shoulders above anything that India have got to offer.
India are a 6/5 chance (Sportingbet) and captain MS Dhoni will be thinking carefully about how he wants the pitch prepared for this important Test considering that his team really struggled to score runs in the 2nd Test.
The 10-wicket defeat has really put pressure on the home team in this match and the only player who seems to be batting consistently is Cheteshwar Pujara who scored 135 runs in his team’s first innings and can be backed at 7/2 (Paddy Power) to be top India batsman on this occasion.
However, with England having momentum, one finds it hard to believe the bookies are offering such a tasty price about the tourists especially with Kevin Pietersen getting into the groove last time out. KP is a 10/3 shot to outscore his team-mates again, although captain Cook will be feeling confident and can be backed at 3/1 (Boylesports bookmaker).
The bookies seem to think a result will yield in Kolkata and the draw is available at 9/4, with the price potentially getting even bigger if we see wickets starting to fall on the first day of play.
If England do win the toss, it will be interesting to see whether they put their opponents in and the two spin bowlers will be rubbing their hands at the prospect of taking more wickets, with Swann available at 15/8 and Panesar a highly backable 9/4 after his heroics in Mumbai.
Posted: 03/12/12