Motivation the key factor

With the series done and dusted, as a contest, India and England embark on the remaining three matches in the seven-game ODI series, starting with match five in Cuttack on Wednesday. England are battling for pride while India will make changes, but what does that mean for punters?

India would probably like to win the series 7-0, simply for the humiliation factor as they head to the two-Test series, but they will not break their backs to do so.

Captain MS Dhoni has already said that the side will show a few changes in the remaining three games, and the question is whether those changes lessen their chances, or whether the new recruits will be so keen to impress that they stay on top of England?

Kevin Pietersen's men have been outplayed to this point - that much is clear - but in fairness, they have improved in each match and with India's reason for playing at 100 percent perhaps weakened, perhaps they can finally get a win on the board.

This motivation question is why bet365 are relatively generous in making India only 8/15 for the fifth match in Cuttack. After four straight wins, and with England's options for change relatively slim, you might have expected to see something like 3/10. Instead, they are much longer than that, while England are only 11/8.

Virender Sehwag remains favourite to be India's top runscorer in Cuttack, at 3/1, while Sachin Tendulkar, who should improve for his first one-day outing in the last match, is next at 7/2, just ahead of the impressive Gautam Gambhir, who is 4/1.

The brilliant Yuvraj Singh is also at 4/1, while there is a big gap to messrs Kohli (11/2) and then Raina and Dhoni himself at 13/2.

For England, captain Pietersen is 3/1, while Ian Bell and Ravi Bopara are 4/1, Alastair Cook and Owais Shah are 5/1 chances and Andrew Flintoff is a 7/1 bet.

The result itself is a tough one to call. India have the better side but England may want this one more, so I would suggest watching this one to see the attitudes of the two sides first.

It's about time India put on a big opening stand, and at 8/13 they should, this time surely, be able to outscore England's openers.