India v England series and first Test predictions and cricket betting tips: claim £30 in Sky Bet free bets

Where to watch India v England

TNT Sports 1, 4am Thursday

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Best bets

India to win the series 4-1
1pt 4-1 bet365, Hills

Ben Duckett to score over 22.5 first-innings runs
3pts 5-6 Hills

Ravichandran Ashwin to be man of the match
1pt 8-1 bet365

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India v England predictions

England have played some scintillating Test cricket since captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum joined forces in June 2022 and it will be fascinating to see whether their aggressive approach pays off over the course of a five-match series in India.

James Anderson, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow were in the England squad who claimed a famous 2-1 series victory in India in 2012 but they have been beaten 4-0 and 3-1 in two subsequent visits.

India have lost only three of their 40 home Tests in the past decade and there are plenty of doubts hanging over England when the series starts in Hyderabad early on Thursday morning. 

The next four matches are in Visakhapatnam, Rajkot, Ranchi and Dharamsala and the visiting batsmen can expect a trial by spin.

On the 2021 tour, Joe Root's double-century in Chennai set up a surprise victory in the first Test but India spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel bowled them out for 134, 164, 112, 81, 205 and 135 in the next three matches.

Ashwin, Axar and Ravindra Jadeja, who took 22 wickets in last year's 2-1 series win over Australia, form an awesome slow-bowling attack in favourable conditions.

In contrast, England's spin department comprises Jack Leach, who has not played a competitive match since June 2023, plus Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir, who have one Test cap between them.

India's pacemen Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj skittled South Africa for 55 and 176 in their first Test of 2024 in Cape Town and odds of 7-1 about England winning the series odds reflect the scale of their task.

There is no question that Stokes and McCullum have galvanised England's Test team and they were unfortunate only to draw 2-2 in last summer's Ashes.

They claimed an impressive 3-0 series win in Pakistan on their first away tour in December 2022, somehow conjuring up 60 wickets on flat pitches in Rawalpindi, Mirpur and Karachi.

Harry Brook, who scored centuries in each of those Tests, has pulled out of the India tour for personal reasons and home hero Virat Kohli is also unavailable for the first two matches.

India are not short of able understudies for Kohli – Cheteshwar Pujara, who has scored more than 7,000 Test runs, is one option – and the gulf between the rival spin attacks suggests a 4-1 India series win is worth a bet in the correct-score market.

The first Test takes place at Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, where India have hammered the West Indies, Bangladesh, Australia and New Zealand in their last four matches.

England have not played a Test since the Ashes ended in July and their last visit to India ended in a shock early exit from the 50-over World Cup in November.

Strong starts are required from openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, who have both struggled on previous tours of India, but Duckett's first-innings runs line of 22.5 looks too low.

He made 107, nought, 63, 79, 26 and 82 not out in the series in Pakistan and cemented his place at the top of the order last summer, scoring 182 against Ireland and 98 and 83 in the Ashes Test at Lord's.

Veteran spinner Ashwin was the leading wicket-taker in last year's four-match series against Australia and is worth backing to be named man of the match in the first Test.

He has taken 74 wickets in 13 home Tests against England, also averaging 43 with the bat, and he scored a crucial century in the second game of the 2021 contest in which he won the player-of-the-series award.

Read: Tom Clark's view on England's tour of India

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