India v England First ODI: Expert Predictions & Analysis

India v England predictions: 

• Virat Kohli to score 30+ runs - 1.57 @ 22Bet Sports
• Joe Root to score under 32.5 runs - 1.83 @ 22Bet Sports
• Adil Rashid to take 0-1 wickets - 1.66 @ 22Bet Sports

When: Thursday 6 February, 1:30 pm IST

Where: Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur

Watch: Star Sports, Hotstar

Best Odds: India 1.53, England 2.50

The money-spinning T20Is are over, and now India and England will turn their full attention to this month’s ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan and Dubai.

This three-game ODI series will be a very important warm-up for every member of the 15-man squads, particularly the Indian batters who, instead of the T20I series, have spent time facing the red ball in the Ranji Trophy. 

Cricket betting sites have not changed their odds from the fourth or fifth T20Is, both of which were won in vastly different circumstances. 

That’s despite England plummeting to seventh in the ICC ODI rankings after losing three consecutive bilateral series since their disastrous 2023 World Cup in which they almost missed Champions Trophy qualification. 

This 2011 World Cup venue has not hosted an ODI since 2018/19 - which happened to be India’s 500th ODI victory - so whilst there is little recent international history to guide our selections, we’ve delved into some player v player history to pick out some player bets from one of the best Indian bookmakers.

The Numbers That Matter

• India won their last 17 home ODIs against anyone except Australia
• England lost 18 of their last 25 ODIs on Indian soil
• The all-time ODI run rate at this venue is 5.73 (286 runs per 50 overs)
• Virat Kohli scored 116 in the last ODI in Nagpur

Will the CT be the final chapter of Virat’s legacy?

He’s done and dusted with T20Is following the 2024 World Cup in the Americas, and his Test career is at a crossroads after a poor Border-Gavaskar Trophy, but ODIs still remain Virat Kohli’s strongest format.

Granted, there was a lean series of only 58 runs in a three-game tour of Sri Lanka last year, but he’ll be appearing in his first home ODI since the 2023 World Cup when he topped the run-scoring charts by a long, long way with 765 runs from 11 innings. 

Kohli has been in very poor form at Test level before, but he was also short of runs in Test cricket for three years (2020-22) before his incredible ODI run in 2023, so Virat has been here. 

Virat also has an excellent record against England’s key bowlers for this series, averaging 36 against Adil Rashid in both ODIs (108/3) and T20Is (72/2) whilst the speedsters Mark Wood and Jofra Archer have combined to dismiss him just once for 157 runs conceded in either format. 

Cricket betting apps have taken a very conservative approach in setting his over/under run mark at 38.5 or thereabouts, so we’ll instead be backing him to at least get into the thirties in case there’s still a bit of rust in his system. 

Prediction: Virat Kohli to score 30+ runs - 1.57 @ 22Bet Sports

He has come to save Bazball, but will he?

Many England supporters on social media were delighted to see the sight of former Test captain Joe Root arrive in India ahead of the fifth T20I, after an overall disappointing performance from their batters. 

Root has not played ODI cricket since the 2023 World Cup in India, where he cleared the 32.5 run mark set by Indian betting apps in just three of his nine innings. 

In fact, he has reached the thirties and beyond in only four of 19 ODI starts anywhere in the world since 2022, and he also brings some ‘hit and miss’ SA20 form into this series. 

Root sparkled as a Paarl Royals opener early in the tournament, scoring unbeaten half-centuries in three separate victories. However, accompanying that were another five scores of under 30 runs, including ducks in two of his last three innings. 

It may take him some time to get into this series, especially if he faces Arshdeep Singh early in his innings. Root has been dismissed by left-arm pace six times in ODIs since 2023 at an average of just 12. 

Prediction: Joe Root under 32.5 runs - 1.83 @ 22Bet Sports

Rashid has yet to rock this tour

The 36-year-old veteran took exactly one wicket in each of the five T20Is played on this tour. The Indian batters mostly played him conservatively, but Abhishek Sharma tore him to shreds in the final game in Mumbai. 

Rashid was able to pick up 2+ wickets in each of his last four appearances at the 2023 World Cup, including 2-35 against India on the spin-friendly Lucknow pitch, but the batters are likely to have a better time of it in Nagpur. 

He finished with 0-1 wickets in a slim majority (five) of his nine ODIs against India, but it’s his ODI record against the key Indian batters of this series that doesn’t fall in his favour. 

Against the Indian quintet of Kohli, Pant, Rohit, Jadeja and KL Rahul, Adil Rashid has taken just six wickets from a total of nearly 49 overs bowled. 

That comes at a hefty average of 51 runs, and more importantly, as far as this market is concerned, eight overs bowled per wicket taken against those five batters. 

It’s little wonder then that punters have begin siding with the ‘unders’ in the over/under 1.5 wicket market, and we agree with them. 

Prediction: Adil Rashid to take 0-1 wickets - 1.66 @ 22Bet Sports