Richard Mann is hoping for big runs when England and India renew hostilities in the second T20I at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon.
Cricket tips: England v India T20I
2pts over 190.5 first innings runs at 5/6 (Sky Bet, Paddy Power, Betfair)
The last time England played a T20I on this ground, Phil Salt and Jos Buttler went crazy as the hosts blasted 304-2 against South Africa.
It’s back to Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon (14:30) for the second T20I between England and India, the first match in Durham having been washed out at halfway after India had posted 189-7 batting first.
That was a funny innings in many ways, one that hit plenty of bumps in the road but still saw the visitors score at 9.5 runs per over.
Durham is a big ground, too, so as the series goes on, as long as the weather holds, I suspect we’ll see some high scores from these two powerhouse batting line-ups.
Abhishek Sharma flexed his muscles with 59 from 24 balls on Wednesday, while new captain Shreyas Iyer held the middle order together with 68 from 47, before Shivam Dube blasted 42 from 21 at the death.
There was a run out to Ishan Kishan in there, and rare failure from recent T20 World Cup player of the tournament Sanju Samson – so it’s clear this Indian batting line-up is full of runs.
Perhaps England aren’t quite as strong in that department, but there’s no Jasprit Bumrah to worry about here, and the aforementioned Buttler found something close to his best form at the IPL.
A few more days to get back up to speed switching from the Test to T20 format will do Harry Brook and Jacob Bethell no harm, either, and the hosts have big runs in them also.
I’ve seen no evidence this summer to suggest conditions for batting at Old Trafford have in any way deteriorated, with Lancashire hitting 208-4 in one of the two fixtures played in the T20 Blast here.
I do like the idea of backing runs, then, and OVER 190.5 FIRST INNINGS RUNS with the Flutter firms looks a solid starting point.
Alternatively, the 7/2 about both teams to score 200+ runs will interest some, but a huge first-innings score can sometimes leave the chasing side on a hiding to nothing, just as was the case in that South Africa match on this ground last summer.
We'll keep things simple and bank on the first innings.
Posted at 13:45 BST on 02/07/26
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