T20 World Cup: England slight underdogs to get past India

England’s best total with the bat is 215 for seven, made in that last game in July and marking the first time they had scored 200 since the inaugural meeting, when they finished on 200 for six in pursuit of a target of 219.

Their lowest total was 80 all out in Colombo in the 2012 World T20, when Harbhajan Singh took four for 12 and a quarter of England’s runs came in a last-wicket stand between Jade Dernbach and Steven Finn.

India have totals of 218 for four in 2007, 202 for six in 2017, 201 for three in 2018 and 224 for two last year, with their lowest being 120 for nine in 2011 at Eden Gardens.

Fluctuating form

The sequence of results has generally seen runs of wins for one team or the other, barring the start of 2021’s five-match series.

India’s opening win in 2007 was followed by a three-match winning run for England and after India’s wins in the 2012 World T20 and the first of two games in December of that year, England won the second and added the next two distantly spaced meetings in 2014 and 2017.

India hit back to win the latter series 2-1 and repeated the dose in July 2018 and though England led 2-1 last year, India won the last two games of that series and the first two of three this July to record the longest winning run in T20 internationals between the sides at four games.

England must hope their consolation win in Nottingham marks the start of a new sequence in their favour.

Key players

India star Virat Kohli has played in 19 of those 22 previous matches, scoring 589 runs at an average of 39.26 and a strike rate of 136.65 – hitting four half-centuries along the way with a best of 80 not out last year.

Only Australia’s Aaron Finch, with 619, has more T20 runs against England which makes Coral’s Odds Boost of 7/2 for Kohli to score 50 worth considering.

Captain Jos Buttler is England’s top scorer against India with 395, in 20 innings with an average of 28.21 and a strike rate of 142.08, with his three half-centuries including a best of 83 not out.

Looking at the T20 World Cup betting odds, he is 11/4 to score 50 in an England win. Opposite number Rohit Sharma is close behind with 383 in only 13 innings against England.

The other England players over 300 are not in the tournament squad, with Jason Roy overlooked and Eoin Morgan retired, but Dawid Malan has 265 in eight innings against India – including 77 from 39 balls in the most recent win – and Alex Hales 245 in nine.

Chris Jordan is the leading wicket-taker in the match-up with 18, with no other England bowler on more than seven, and Jordan is 4/1 to take the most wickets for England on Thursday.

India’s Yuzvendra Chahal and Hardik Pandya have 16 and 14 respectively, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar nine in as many innings.

Kohli also leads all run-scorers in the current World Cup with 246 ahead of the semi-finals, while team-mate Suryakumar Yadav’s third-ranked 225 have come at a strike rate of 193.96 and with three half-centuries in five innings.

Hales leads England with 125 in four games, six ahead of Buttler, and the pair are also the subject of a Coral Odds Boost with 5/2 available for them to both hit a six.

Rival left-arm seamers Sam Curran and Arshdeep Singh have 10 wickets apiece in the tournament to lead their respective sides’ attacks and Singh is 8/1 to take at least three wickets in an India win.

T20 World Cup betting odds

5/4 Pakistan

11/5 India

9/4 England

View the latest cricket odds

All odds and markets correct as of date of publication