India hope to regain momentum for best-of-three finals
It's back to the MCG for the first VB Series final between Australia and India
Andrew Hall
03-Feb-2004
The VB Series kicked off almost a month ago at Melbourne with a match between Australia and India. Twelve matches later, it's back to the MCG for the first final between the same two sides. After the four group games between the sides, it's 3-1 to Australia, although this rather stark statistic is probably slightly unfair to India, who have batted - and battled - well throughout.
Australia are favourites for the first final - 4/9 to win the match - while India represent good value at 13/8. India are at slightly longer odds - 2/1 - to win the best-of-three finals, with Australia at a miserly 4/11.
Mike Kasprowicz comes in for Andy Bichel to strengthen the Australian bowling, and Ricky Ponting returns as skipper. India should be at full strength - Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag seem to have recovered from injury, and Sourav Ganguly returns as captain.
Top Australia batsman
Adam Gilchrist, in spite of sitting out two matches, is the leading runscorer overall with 431 runs from six innings. He is narrowly ahead of Ricky Ponting, who is 100/30 second favourite in spite of an average of just over 31 in the tournament to date.
Adam Gilchrist, in spite of sitting out two matches, is the leading runscorer overall with 431 runs from six innings. He is narrowly ahead of Ricky Ponting, who is 100/30 second favourite in spite of an average of just over 31 in the tournament to date.
Andrew Symonds top-scored in the first match of the tournament with a superb 88, and looks good value at 13/2 to repeat the feat. Simon Katich is a good outside bet - he retains his place ahead of Mike Hussey, and is 8/1 to top-score in the first final.
Top Indian batsman
VVS Laxman is the Indian form horse, and with three hundreds to his name is just 17 runs behind Gilchrist in the race to be top tournament run-scorer. In spite of this, bet365 still seem to be favouring the thoroughbred Sachin Tendulkar (201 runs from five innings), who has been struggling with form and injuries. Tendulkar is 9/4 to top-score in the first final, ahead of Laxman at 7/2.
VVS Laxman is the Indian form horse, and with three hundreds to his name is just 17 runs behind Gilchrist in the race to be top tournament run-scorer. In spite of this, bet365 still seem to be favouring the thoroughbred Sachin Tendulkar (201 runs from five innings), who has been struggling with form and injuries. Tendulkar is 9/4 to top-score in the first final, ahead of Laxman at 7/2.
Saurav Ganguly top-scored for India in the corresponding game at the start of the tournament, albeit in a losing cause. He took a rest for the final game against Zimbabwe, and is a good 11/2 bet to lead the Indian run-scoring in the first final. Yuvraj Singh has had a varied tournament - he is third top-scorer in terms of aggregate runs - and anyone who saw his innings in the NatWest final of 2002, or at Sydney earlier in the tournament may agree that he looks the best price in the market at 8/1.
Please note that odds are correct at time of publication and are subject to change.