India v England Prediction: England could have six appeal in Pune for 4th T20i

India host England in the fourth of a five-match T20i series on Friday in Pune with a start time of 13:30, the match being broadcast live on TNT Sports 1, with the Series delicately poised at 2-1 to the hosts.   

Jamie Pacheco is in excellent profit for the Series after delivering yet another winner on Tuesday, this time at 3/1, and has 5/4 and 3/1 selections ahead of this one. Check out his India vs England Predictions for the fourth T20i below along with his match preview...

*You can check out all of our Cricket Odds over at betfred.com

India  

India started extremely well with the ball but did allow Ben Duckett to do plenty of damage as others around him were falling.   

They also let Liam Livingstone break free with his 43 off 24 a huge contribution in the context of the match and perhaps worst of all, let the last wicket partnership of Adil Rashid and Mark Wood add some valuable runs, though those two deserve some credit for the way they batted. 

I'll tell whose fault it wasn't that they lost:  Arun Chakravarthy.  Our 3/1 top bowler pick not only delivered five wickets (three more than anyone else) but also picked up the Man of the Match award; it's almost unheard of for a player from the losing side to get it.  So that's two MOM awards in three games for him and a second winner from two on him ourselves to bring our profit for the Series up to five points after our half point on Harry Brook was a loser.  

Arshdeep Singh was rested for the last game which allowed the understandably-rusty Mohammed Shami to come in; he was ok and will surely only get better, but did go wicketless.  

Washington Sundar, who strangely has only bowled two overs in two games, may miss out if they decide to play two frontline quicks.  

Possible XI:  Abishek, Samson, Tilak Varma, Sky Yadav, Hardik, Jurel, Reddy/Sundar, Axar, Arshdeep Singh, Shami, Chakravarthy.  

England 

It was a somewhat disjointed and bits and pieces effort from England but the important thing is they won. Not only has it kept the Series alive, it's given them confidence that their all-out aggression approach with the bat where strike rates are more important than keeping wickets intact, can work.  

Duckett, Livingstone, Jofra Archer and Jamie Overton one way or another all made valuable contributions but perhaps most vital of all was the 1/15 from Rashid. You're not going to lose many games when one of your bowlers is going at 3.75 an over for four overs. 

Those three wickets from Overton may have given him a lifeline as far as being in the team going forward because after a golden duck with the bat, that wasn't looking likely.   

Wood may get a rest after being expensive yet again with Saqib Mahmood in line to get a go.  

Possible XI: Duckett, Salt, Buttler, Brook, Livingstone, Smith, Bethell/Overton/Ahmed, Carse, Archer, Rashid, Mahmood/Wood.  

Pitch and conditions  

Just four T20I matches have been played at Pune over the years.  

The last three saw Sri Lanka beat India here in two of them, first in 2016 and then in 2023. That 2023 game saw Sri Lanka post 206 and India coming close to chasing it with 190, so this should be a good wicket.  

Thew match between those same two in 2020 saw India get 201 first up so more evidence this is a good track.  

India vs England 4th T20i Odds 

Even though we weren't on India at the prices, the loss on Tuesday was something of as surprise to us. Especially as England did it in a chase.  

It shows how fickle this format can be and how a couple of stand-out performances, like those from Rashid and Duckett, can have such a huge impact on the match. 

The result is that India are 8/15, implied probability 65%, so have lengthened in odds by a decent amount since the last one. England are 6/4, or 40%.  

So far, we haven't needed to play this market to show a healthy profit across the Series and we haven't particularly liked the odds on either team ahead of any of the matches. Given the latter is the case again, we'll leave this market alone again.  

Most Sixes  

India are 5/6 to hit the most sixes in the match; England are 5/4.  

To some it may seem like we're splitting hairs as regards arguing the odds should be the same here but as hardened sports bettors know, these small things make all the difference.  

England have hit 21 sixes to India's 20 so far this Series but that's not even the main reason I say England are a bit of value.  

Hitting sixes is sometimes a sign of desperation rather than a show of strength. For example, Livingstone hit five the other day because he was running out of partners and decided to go for broke, not because he was seeing it like a beach ball. No prizes for guessing which of the two sides is more likely to be in that position again in this match.  

The other factor here is that it's very much the Bazball way to take risks and try to hit sixes knowing the price you can pay with your wicket; everyone in the team is fine with that and happy to go down swinging. It could make all the difference.