India vs England Prediction: England to bounce back and hit the long ball in 5th T20I

India host England in the fifth and final match of this T20I series on Sunday afternoon in Mumbai 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.   

Our regular cricket tipster Jamie Pacheco is unavailable but Neil Monnery has stepped in to have a look at this game. The concussion substitute story that overshadowed India's win on Friday is in the past and he expects the visitors to come out firing on a pitch more suited to their players than what we've previously seen on this tour. You can check out his India vs England Predictions below...

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

It would be fair to say that England’s T20 performances in India in this five-match series so far have been well below par. There was plenty of hope that having Brendon McCullum at the helm would be the turning point for getting the white ball game back on track but once more their issues with spin have been glaring.

I have long thought that England were flat track bullies and once the pitch wasn’t a road, batting became far more complicated and we’ve seen it throughout the four matches played so far.

Even in Pune on Friday, where India put up the best score of the series with 181, most pundits thought that it was at best a par score. The visitors came out with gusto and ambition but once that white ball saw its sheen getting worn off, once more the run rate slowed down and wickets tumbled.

Mumbai had traditionally been a place where batters enjoy coming to play. Average first innings scores have taken a sharp upturn in the IPL at the Wankhede Stadium in the past couple of years, with 197 in 2023 and the 188 in 2024 being right up there.

The red soil helps with the bounce and allows batsmen to get more value for their shots, certainly when on the attack. On paper, this should help the English.

With Sunday’s game being a dead rubber, I wouldn’t be overly shocked to see plenty of rotation among the home side, whilst England will desperately want to end the series on a high.

The biggest question for Jos Buttler and Brendon McCullum to consider is whether to give Rehan Ahmed a run. The young spinner burst onto the scene in the tour of Pakistan in 2022 but his career seems to have stagnated somewhat since then.

11 wickets from three test matches in India last year was not a great return for a young man who seemed to be on the highway to being a mainstay of the England team in all formats. Getting him some experience might be good for the future but my gut says he’ll miss out again. Mark Wood could well be held back for the ODI series.

The hosts have got to be extremely pleased with the way their players have performed throughout this series. Varun Chakravarthy has been a revelation and been a winner for the Top India Bowler market twice outright and once in a tie. Only last time out did the 33-year-old not reward backers of his.

Captain Suryakumar Yadav hasn’t found his best form at all alongside Sanju Samson but with the pressure off, I expect both to have a good afternoon. Form is temporary but class in permanent and I would be stunned if at least one of these two didn’t break out for a good score.

India vs England Odds

India are very short at just 8/15 to win this match. There are plenty of logical reasons to take that bet. They’ve been the better team through the four games so far, they know the conditions and they’ve already won the series.

This however will be the best pitch that the English batters have seen and as we’ve seen for several years now, they perform far better when the ball is coming on nicely to the bat.

This means the 6/4 on offer for England to win just feels a little bit too long to ignore. The visitors have plenty of power and stroke makers in their line-up and they’ll have every opportunity to put up a big score here. If India do rotate, this definitely feels like a play.