Australia v India betting tips, prediction & odds; 1st Test preview

Welcome to our Australia v India betting tips, prediction and odds analysis for the first Test being played at the Adelaide Oval from Thursday afternoon. 

The Australians have been installed as $1.78 favourites in the betting for their first five-day match since beating New Zealand just under a year ago. 

India are outsiders at $2.70 as they attempt to win successive Test series in Australia for the first time, following their memorable 2-1 victory in the 2018-19 season. The draw in the first of four Tests is paying $7. 

Australia have been rocked by a horror build-up with injuries to key players including opening batsmen David Warner and young gun Will Pucovski; form woes for Joe Burns and other experienced openers such as Usman Khawaja have left them threadbare at the top of the order. 

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We are expecting Marcus Harris to partner the severely out-of-form Joe Burns, who has looked troubled in the knocks we have seen from him this year. The other option is to promote Marnus Labuschagne or Matthew Wade to the opening position with Harris.

Young gun Cameron Green has also been given the green light to make his Test debut, after suffering a slight concussion when a ball was rifled back at him when he was bowling. 

The Indians have a more settled line-up but will have captain Virat Kohli for only the opening Test, with the champion batsman set to return to India for the birth of his first child. Covid-19 protocols mean he almost certainly won’t return to Australia later in the summer. 

Australian Test squad

Tim Paine (c), Sean Abbott, Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner.

Indian Test squad

Virat Kohli (c) (first Test only), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj.

Continue reading for our free Australia v India tips for the first Test being played at the Adelaide Oval from Thursday afternoon. 

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Australia v India betting tips

Our cricket tipsters have examined the odds and found several Australia v India tips for Thursday’s pink ball clash.

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Australia v India prediction 17/12/2020

The Australians are favourites courtesy of their home-ground advantage but we expect this clash to go down to the wire, with the unpredictable nature of pink ball cricket. In a lot of ways it’s a shame that such a good series, between two good teams, is opening under lights with it unlikely to reach the heights of the great red ball games we have seen between these teams in the recent past. Australia’s top order is a serious concern and Labuschagne patching it up leaves the middle-order looking exposed. If Bumrah fires, anything could happen but with Starc getting the all clear to partner Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, we’ll back the Aussie pace attack to get the job done in a close one. Our final Australia v India prediction? Aussies by 110 runs or five wickets. 

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Australia vs India 1st Test Details

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