ENGLAND VS INDIA SECOND TEST - FINAL DAY- BACK INDIA TO WIN!

Even though everyone is surprised at the defensive game played by the Indian team today on the 4th day, India has ensured that they stay in the striking distance of another test victory while ensuring that doors are literally closed on England's chances. After loosing Sehwag, Dravid and Tendulkar quickly, India seemed to go into a shell today in Mohali and only managed to close at 134-4 at the end of the fourth day. Earlier in the day, the match started 2 hours late due to the fog. However, India made up very well for the loss of the time by removing last 4 England wickets for a mere 21 runs. Harbhajan Singh took 3 of those to finish with figures of 4/68 in 20.5 overs while Zaheer Khan took the wicket of Swann to finish with 3/76 in 21 overs. In all both of them bowled 42 overs and took 7/144, which is a very impressive figure and Dhoni is going to make sure England have to face these two on the final day. India would have looked to Virender Sehwag to give them an explosive start but he was the first to go due to great run out effort by Ian Bell. Sehwag was in striking form with 17 runs of 17 balls including 2 boundaries. This could well turn out to be the turning point of the match if India does not manage to win now. If he had stayed on for even 10 more overs, England would have been thinking on how to save the match. Then Stuart Broad and James Anderson combined for a great spell of bowling, which saw India searching for ways to make the scoreboard move. This can be figured out from the fact that Rahul Dravid stood like a wall for 19 balls without scoring runs before being bowled by Broad. Sachin Tendulkar was the next to go in the 20th over with score on 44/3 after managing only 5 runs of 22 balls, that too including one four. Ever since Sehwag's departure, England were on top and India could only manage 14 runs in 14 overs and lost 2 wickets. This led India to change its plan and Laxman put on 36 runs in the next 18 overs with Gambhir before Laxman got run out. However, in doing so they managed to steer India clear of danger. It was only after Yuvraj Singh joined Gambhir in the center that India looked in some sort of "playing for a win" attitude. Yuvraj took a great liking to the bowling on Monty Panesar and even hit him for a six. When bad light stopped play, Yuvraj was sitting pretty on 39 of 40 balls with 5 fours and one six. On the other hand, Gambhir is doing well with just 44 from 155 balls, which saved Indian batting from a complete collapse. Betting Choice Analysis and Betting Tips Though most experts and UK bookmakers have written off a result in the match with a draw, we predict one hell of a final days action if things go right. Both the teams will be looking forward to win this match for various reasons. England would love to win this as that will help them all salvage all lost pride and come back home as equals from the test series. They have shown all the right moves in the series till now and would like to cap it of by winning this match. India would love to keep its winning record and make it 7-0 in total including the one day series score of 5-0. They would have loved to have 7-0 in the One-day series also and were well on course. India holds the advantage of making it difficult for England to have any chance of winning the match now. They would surely like to convert this assured no loss draw for them in a win. Indian camp has already said that they can have a crack at victory tomorrow. "We can have a crack at victory tomorrow. First, we have to put up some runs in the morning. However, most importantly it would depend on the start of the match. If the match starts on time hopefully we can win the it," Zaheer said after the fourth day's play. I believe India wanted to ensure that they do not leave England with too many overs in the 4th innings to try for a win. Even though they would like to win the 2nd test but they will not like to do it risking the series win. Hence, that explains the way India played today. If Sehwag had stayed then things might have been different. England batting is also doing good and their top and middle order has clicked in this series, hence a sniff of chance of victory could motivate them. By removing the option of winning India intends to take this motivation away from England. Andrew Flintoff said after the penultimate day's play. "It's being very difficult out there with the ball really going wide. Anything more than four per over is going to be a difficult chase for us tomorrow." This is exactly what India wants to do now. Tomorrow, India would be playing with a very simple strategy. They would be praying for the match to start on time with no delay like today. Yuvraj Singh is in attacking form and will be followed by Dhoni. They would try to score a quick fire 70-80 more runs in the first 15 overs or so and then put England in with a lead of 350 plus and less than a full day's play on hand. I expect India to immediately go in attacking mode after that with Zaheer and Ishant for the first 5-6 overs and then Dhoni would bring in Harbhajan on very soon in the game. It would be the most crucial period of the match for England and they would not like to loose any early wickets. If they do loose the early wickets, expect Dhoni to build up more pressure on the English team by having an attacking field. Considering the collapse which happened in the first innings of England when they lost last six wickets for 22 runs we can safely assume that anything is possible in this match. Bad light in the end might play a big role in the final outcome as I expect England to have lost 6-7 wickets by the last session of the play and they would surely accept the light if offered to them then. To counter that, we can look forward to lot of spin bowling being used with Yuvraj and Sehwag also thrown in for a few overs. Bookmakers give a drawn game as high as 1/16 with Paddy Power while best odds are with Ladbrokes at 1/9. This just does not hold much value from betting perspective while and English victory is available at as high as 74/1 at Betfair. However, this seems very unrealistic. The only profitable scenario in this match seems to be betting on an Indian victory, which might very well be possible depending upon certain factors going right. Our Tip of the Match - Back India to pull of a win at 7/1 with Paddy Power and 19/2 at Betfair. If during the match, India starts to get an upper hand and the odds on the draw drift to around evens, they can be used to place a hedge bet keeping in mind the bad light coming into play at the end.