Betting Preview of Ind v SA 1st test at Nagpur

The mother of all battles this year will begin from Saturday as India takes on South Africa in the first Test match at Nagpur. The two sides are currently ranked one and two in the Test world and a series win for either will mean that they end the year with the number one position and a pay cheque of $175,000 from the ICC.

India will go into the series at the back of some good performances in Bangladesh, where they easily streamrolled the opposition 2-0. The batting clicked through most part of the series except in the first innings where the moisture in the wicket ensured that the Indians struggled through the innings. However, some impressive bowling by the quickies had brought them back.

One cannot see the Nagpur wicket assist the pace bowlers for sure. Even if it does, it will be later in the game when the ball gets older and there is reverse swing on offer. Zaheer Khan is a master exponent of reverse swing and that could be the difference between the two teams, especially after it was evident in South Africa, that the hosts could not pick up the English bowlers.

What will nullify the home advantage that the Indians will enjoy is the fact that at least Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh will not be a part of the playing eleven, and VVS Laxman could also go down the same road. This will mean that the Indian batting will be inexperienced and the South African pace bowlers in Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and the young gun in Wayne Parnell could take full toll of the same.

South Africa will rely on pace rather than spin to get a move on in the game, but will hope that the conditions are not heavily in favour of the batsmen. It will be difficult to call for who the favourites will be, going into the game, and there is a case for a drawn match. At this stage, anyway, the punters seem to think the same as Stan James offers 2.1 for a drawn game as compared to 3 (Bwin) for an Indian win. Despite the closeness in quality between the two sides, Extrabet offers 4.33 for South Africa to go up 1-0.