England and India are all set for their series finale at the Oval on Thursday, where Richard Mann has a couple of bets to consider.
Cricket betting tips: England v India
2pts Josh Tongue top England first innings bowler at 15/4 (General)
2pts Ravi Jadeja first innings fifty at 15/8 (Boylesports)
Have you noticed that ever so slightly, the nights are pulling in? It’s getting dark that little bit earlier, and only August remains of this scorching summer. Soon the green leaves on the trees will turn brown, and a few of us might have to dust off the big coat. Worse still, the English Test summer is almost done.
It started with a relative whimper at Trent Bridge as Zimbabwe were comfortably brushed aside, but the ongoing Test series with India has been engrossing, and the series is still live, England 2-1 ahead with this week’s Oval Test to play. We've had drama, we've had needle, and we've had some very good cricket despite some dreadfully lifeless pitches.
There will be tired bodies in both camps when hostilities resume on Thursday, although I’d expect to see wholesale changes, specifically in the bowling attacks on both sides.
What are the best bets?
Among those I expect England to recall is JOSH TONGUE, and he looks to have enough in his favour to make him a sporting bet in the top England first innings bowler market.
With Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse and Jofra Archer all appearing to be out on their feet at the end of the Old Trafford Test just gone, Tongue could quickly find himself as attack leader in South London.
Tongue started the series, remember, cleaning up India’s tail in both innings at Headingley, finishing with figures of 4-86 and 3-72, before struggling at Edgbaston, just as the rest of England’s attack did on another flat, docile surface.
The Oval should suit better. The pitch here has always offered good pace and bounce for the seamers, even when slipping between batsman’s paradise to green seamer, and then back to a good place to bat, in recent years.
I fancy we'll see a good surface this week, judging by the mammoth score Surrey posted against Durham in the County Championship here recently, and tall, line bowlers very much in the mould of Tongue have always tended to bowl well on this ground. Think Glenn McGrath and Steve Harmison.
Tongue isn’t in that league, of course, but I do think he’s a much better bowler than we saw in the first two matches of the series. Think back to the home Ashes series in 2023 and remember just what a big impression Tongue made then. He remains a high-class prospect for England.
Given England are likely to use him at this frail Indian tail again, Tongue should be bang in the game, and looks a bet at 15/4.
Positives for both camps ahead of finale
The overall picture of the series is hard to be as confident about. India fans will reason that being 2-1 behind doesn’t reflect how well they have played this summer, losing Test matches in Leeds and London which for large parts they dominated. And Sunday’s rearguard in Manchester was another illustration of the resilience of this group.
However, they will now be without Rishabh Pant, and if we are to believe all that has been said over the last few weeks, Jasprit Bumrah, too. Those are huge gaps to fill, and they had their injury issues before last week.
And England, for all they were left frustrated and weary after their failed victory push on Sunday, still lead the series knowing as well that they were the best side in Manchester, the only team that could conceivably win the game from two and a half days out.
Momentum is a funny old word, certainly an overused one in sport if you ask me, and another hard-fought contest seems most likely, one which might well be decided by who gets the best of conditions to bat in. And whose bowling bench strength proves the strongest.
Both camps will be keen to highlight the positives to their players over the coming days, one final push for those heavy legs, and the rhythm of the series so far would suggest there are still more twists and turns to come. That's something we'll need to keep in mind in terms of the match odds that have fluctuated wildly all summer.
And now it's Ravi Jadeja who joins the party with his fifth 50 in six innings! 🇮🇳⚔️ pic.twitter.com/oxEHTQhv45
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) July 27, 2025
Jadeja can shine again
One man who will again be key for India is RAVI JADEJA, and it makes perfect sense to back him to notch his sixth fifty-plus score of the series.
From number six, Jadeja has amassed 454 runs in the series so far, at an average of 113.50, having put together scores of 11, 25*, 89, 69*, 72, 61*, 20 and 107*. The fact is, England just don’t appear to have a workable plan to dismiss Jadeja, and from a low base a few years back, he now averages 42.42 against this opposition.
Given Archer, England’s best bowler to left-handers, is likely to sit out the Oval Test as his workload is managed ahead of the Ashes, Jadeja will be eying more runs, especially with promotion to number five expected in Pant’s absence.
The 15/8 with BoyleSports, though shorter than in recent weeks, is still perfectly acceptable, and as the light dims on another English Test summer, one of its brightest stars is backed to put England to the sword once again.
Preview published at 2110 BST on 28/07/25
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