India vs England Prediction: KKR boys can fire at Eden Gardens in 1st T20i

India host England in the first of a three-match T20I series on Wednesday morning with a start time of 13:30, the match being broadcast live on TNT Sports 1.  

Jamie Pacheco talks you through his wagers in this one, where knowledge of Eden Gardens plays a big part in his selections, as he takes you through his India vs England Cricket Predictions for the T20i opener...

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

India  

Axar Patel has been given the T20I vice-captaincy, a sign that he's a big part of their long-term plans, and as a three-dimensional player who has a tonne of IPL experience, why wouldn't he be?  

Sanju Samson continues to be included as well and at 30 years of age, it's been a long wait for him to be given an extended run in the side. Given there's no other natural opener in the squad beyond Abishek Sharma and it's pretty nailed-on that he'll open.  

There's also a place for Hardik Pandya, who like Axar adds excellent balance to the side and could well be good to bowl four overs in a couple of these matches. It will be interesting to see if they can also find a place for Ntish Reddy, who impressed with the bat in the Test series but has only ever played three T20Is.  

But perhaps the greatest focus of all will be on Mohammed Shami, who returns after a long absence and will be even more important than usual with no Jasprit Bumrah or Mohammad Siraj.  

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

England 

There's no Joe Root yet again, which may raise a few eyebrows given how well he's been playing in the SA 20 but then again, this squad was picked before the tournament got under way.  

England have already announced their side for the first match, so we know exactly what we're going to get. Jofra Archer and Mark Wood will provide some genuine pace while Gus Atkinson is given a rare chance to see what he can do in the shortest format.     

Jos Buttler is skipper of course but will leave opening duties to Ben Duckett and Phil Salt and will bat at three. Jacob Bethell has seemingly made himself a permanent fixture across all three formats and is set to come in at six; it will be interesting to see how much he bowls.  

Possible XI: Duckett, Salt, Buttler, Brook, Livingstone, Bethell, Overton, Atkinson, Archer, Rashid, Wood.  

Pitch and conditions  

Eden Gardens is a wicket we know well from watching KKR play so much there over the years in the IPL.  

180 on the board batting first should mean you're in business and the marginal favourites at the half-way mark but what you can never dismiss here in Kolkata is the potential to score big in the last five overs or so, as we've seen players like Andre Russell and Rinku Singh do so often.  

India have a very strong record here. They've won their last five, of which four were against the West Indies, and six out of seven, their only defeat coming against England back in 2011. A slightly bizarre match in which India managed just 120, Kevin Pietersen was man of the match with 53 off 39, Samit Patel batted at four and Buttler was chalked in to bat at number seven but wasn't needed!  

India vs England 1st T20 Odds 

India are 8/13, which is implied probability of 62%. England are 5/4, which translates as 44%.  

Things have been pretty tight between these two over the years with India winning 13 and losing 11. They're also surprisingly tight when you just look at matches played in India with the hosts just 6-5 up using that filter.  

So don't assume all India have to do is show up and use their knowledge of conditions and spin options to boss the game.  

Either way, we're not particularly fond of either price, so we'll have a look at game one before deciding to get involved in this market for game two.  

England Top Batsman   

Phil Salt ticks plenty of boxes for a T20I top batsman wager.  

He has a strong overall record, averaging 36 in T20Is, with three centuries and four fifties from 35 innings, he's been in excellent form over the last couple of years and he knows this ground well from playing here for KKR. Add to that the fact he opens – making him alongside the other opener the only player guaranteed a bat and the advantage of batting in the Powerplay overs – and you can see why we're keen. Price? The 7/2 is perfectly fair given all of the above.  

The value is arguably Liam Livingstone, though, at 13/2. He's also got plenty of international and IPL experience and can hit the ball as cleanly as anyone on his day.

A small negative is that he didn't play particular well in the SA 20 in the three matches he featured in, but that's quite a small sample anyway. But he certainly shouldn't be a bigger price than Bethell, the latter in line to be batting a place below him. It's worth having half a point bet as a sort of saver if England's top order gets out cheaply and Livingstone gets enough crease time.