India face uphill battle

Australia dominated India from start to finish on Thursday as they took an unassailable 3-1 lead in the one-day series. With two matches to go, all hope is not yet lost for India, but they will have to make a big improvement in Sunday's sixth match if they are to stay alive.

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On the evidence of Thursday's game, they will need to get their act together at the top of the order as a succession of mistakes left Sachin Tendulkar ploughing a lone furrow. The little master looked in great form - after his battling efforts of the previous match - but that is about the only piece of good news for India.

The fact that the series is not yet over means that you can expect Australia to play flat-out and not allow any complacency to affect their performance, which spells trouble for India, who as we all know, have only beaten the Aussies once in one-dayers since 2004, that win coming in match four of this series.

Quite frankly, India look exhausted and I am not sure there will be too many takers at 13/8 (2.62) for them to win in Nagpur on Sunday. Australia are 4/9 (1.44) and given the fact that India have won only six and lost five of the 11 one-dayers there, the visitors would look a pretty solid choice.

In the past five games at Nagpur, the side batting first has won on four occasions and on three of them, they have scored more than 300. The pitch offers pace and bounce to the quicker bowlers, which obviously favours Australia, but the ball also comes on to the bat nicely so the better batsmen like it too.

Super Sachin
Sachin Tendulkar averages 63 in his five one-dayers at Nagpur and after his fine display in a losing side last time out, merits favouritism even more than usual. The maestro is 5/2 to top-score for India, with Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh both 9/2.

Sourav Ganguly will be itching to atone for his run-out duck in the last match and is a 5/1 chance, while Robin Uthappa and Subramaniam Badrinath are both 6/1 and captain MS Dhoni 13/2.

For Australia, openers Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist, who appear to be taking it in turns to smash the ball all over the park, are joint favourites at 10/3. The faster pitch will help both men, but Gilchrist in particular for he loves the ball coming on to the bat.

Captain Ricky Ponting is 7/2, while Michael Clarke is 11/2, with Andrew Symonds, Brad Haddin and Brad Hodge all 6/1.

Given the fact that they have to go for it to even stand a chance of drawing the series, India's openers will want to produce a good partnership and they have to lead from the front, so take them at 11/10 to outscore Hayden and Gilchrist.

Cambers' Call:
India to have better opening partnership than Australia in 6th one-day international 11/10 (bet365)

Please note that odds are correct at time of publication and are subject to change.