The Hattrick - India vs England 3rd Test 2024 - Expert Betting Tips

Welcome to the Hat-Trick, brought to you by cricket-betting.com.

I'm your host, Ed Hawkins. This is the live weekly cricket betting show that tells you exactly what's going to happen in the third Test between India and England from Rajkot. Each of our guests has the challenge to pick one bet and one bet only.

We're keeping profit and loss figures for our three tipsters as there's absolutely no hiding place, so we tell you exactly what's going to happen in this Test.

Our three tippers are:

Manish, has a responsibility for stats angles. Ravi Ashwin lost us a few last time. Manish, are you happy going into this one?

"Yes, it won't be Ashwin for me this time, and it took a really special performance from Bumrah in slightly helpful conditions to get India over the line. I mean, he literally sealed the game in the first half.

Ashwin did take three wickets in the top order in the second innings, but for me, it was the first inning that really sealed the game for India. With this, Bumrah has become the first Indian pacer to top the Test bowling rankings. He his 30 points ahead of Rabada, and 40 points ahead of Ashwin. So yeah, India is looking good with Bumrah right now."

"Joined as ever by the former enemy, John Wright, ex-odds compiler. John, good to see you. Unique insight from how odds are made. Good to see, mate."

"Yeah, I mean, as I say, it's level in the series now, isn't it? The prices look, for me, about right. I mean, England, the good thing about England is that even though they got beaten in that Test match, as Manish said, the first innings determined the result, really. 

It was Jaiswal and that fantastic spell from Bumrah in the first inning where he got the six for, and then Gill in the second innings. You actually look at India, it's basically that victory revolved around three players.

England stayed in the Test match; they beat India on the second Indian score, which was good, and although they lost the Test match by 100 runs, I think there's a lot to like about this England.

I think India, with a lot of inexperience in that batting lineup, I think England are definitely still in this series, and I think the betting odds reflect that."

"Okay, good stuff. Ben, your job is to cast your eye over the special bets. 10Cric is our featured sportsbook this week. How's it doing, Ben?"

"Yeah, good. I'm liking this England side, good aggressive cricket. Mark Wood probably coming back in, which is going to be exciting. So, looking forward to this Test. This is going to be a cracker. So, there are some really interesting odds from 10Cric today.”

“It's set up to be a cracker. Loads of content on cricket-betting.com. Go over and have a look there. Give us some love on the podcast provider of your choice and subscribe, hit that button, please. We're going to get into it now. Each of the guys has one standout bet, and that comes at the end of the show, with filtering the odds value for you, so stay tuned for that.

And I said, all the odds are for India versus England in the third Test from Rajkot. 10Cric is a featured sportsbook. If you want to go and check it out.

Match odds for you from them: 1.42 India, England 3.7, the draw 9.5. Manish, coming to you on India team news and what can we expect from that Rajkot surface?"

"So, Rajkot is an interesting one. There are runs to be had, obviously, because Pujara and Jadeja, in first-class cricket, have double and triple centuries here. But what has happened in the past, especially in first-class cricket, is they have created rank turners when they needed the result to go their way.

So, as a result of that, there have been 20 first-class totals of 500 or more, but at the same time, there have been 20 all-outs under 150 or less.

So it's going to be dependent on whether Jadeja is available, whether Kuldeep is going to play in the side, and that would decide whether India goes on an aggressive route or they just play a little bit differently. 

There is no way they would want to play defensively; probably Kuldeep is the way to go, but it all depends on whether Jadeja is available as well because his availability is subject to a fitness Test before the match. If he is available, then it's either Kuldeep or Axar, but if he is not, then I think both of them will play."

"Okay, India, as ever, likely to go with spin. John, England has been more than competitive, probably hasn't gone away a lot of people thought this series so far. As an odds maker now, do you think that gap is smaller than first thought, if you've been pricing up for Test one?"

"No, I didn't. I definitely think it's got to be closer. I mean, if you look at the Indian lineup, I agree with Manish there. I think India, if Jadeja is fit, they'll happily bat him in the top six. They batted Axar at six in the last Test match, and I think India, with 3 inexperienced players in the squad of Paddikal, Patidar, and Sarfaraz.

I don't think India will want to play those three because they're only going to play one of those three because I think it does give that Indian batting lineup a bit of inexperience. And England, the England above well, I mean, when you think about it, there's a lot of mitigation.

Root injured himself in the field so he couldn't bowl many overs at Vizag in the second innings. Hartley has been a find, that's an easy bowled very, very well, even though they've lost Leach for the series. I do like England, and I think England, as Ben said, I think they bring Mark Wood back into the side, they're playing two seamers, and the three inexperienced spinners, with hopefully Root being fit to bowl his allocation."

"Okay, Ben, we discussed on the Hat-Trick last time the importance of the toss. You were keen on that last time but favoring England. What about your views this time, what have you seen?"

"I was John on this. I think England is way too long on this. The side is just, it's performing very, very well. I don't know how you can; I think there's a lot of value there in England winning, but it is, it is kind of India, it's disappointing that it tends to be a continent that you win the toss and you kind of choose the favorable option.

It's disappointing in some ways, but it doesn't mean if you lose the toss, you lose the match. I think England, you know, anything above, anything above 2.5 for me has got really good value in terms of interesting investment.

So you know, the one for me is England, you know, England got this really aggressive style, so 10Cric got England at 2.52 for more than 47 runs in the first 10 overs.

Now, over the past two years, England's managed to do that more often than not, so that one jumped out at me as being a pretty safe, we've got a comments back, but it's a pretty safe one, and it has value.

As far as England's top batter goes, it's been spread, there's always this comment of when a good batsman doesn't do well, they're due for runs. Joe Root fits in that category; he's a very good batsman. He's at 3.55, so he's an interesting one, but as before, I like Ben Duckett, he's at 5.2. Ben Duckett at 5.2 is my big one on that one too."

"Okay, Manish, any related odd you've spotted?"

"Yes, the first innings here, there have been seven centuries if you consider both teams, and five centuries in just the first innings. So for any player to score a century in the first innings at 1.68, that looks to be on, and that is probably why the odds are slightly lower.

I really like the way Zak Crawley is playing in this series. He to score a half-century at 3.85, he has done that four times in the last 10 innings, and he also has a couple of 40-plus scores in those 10 innings as well. So, those two jump out at me as far as special odds go."

"Yeah, 1.68, I had noted that one for a ton in the first innings, that's a good one. Check that out at 10Cric, Joe Root 3.55, England top bat in the first innings. John, you're a big fan of his. Is he going to get some runs anytime soon?"

"Well, he's definitely due. He's only got 52 runs in the series so far in four innings, but he's a class act. The Test average is just a shade under 50; he's got runs at this venue before when they played in '16, he got 124. He's got a double 200 in the last series when England toured before.

I think that England is going to need Root to turn up in the series. Hopefully, it's this thing, and if you look at the last Test match with that injured index finger, he batted out of character in the second innings, he had a bit of a slog, didn't he, got 16 runs and got out.

So, I think Root will bat his normal way and hopefully, it'll get runs in this Test match. I think England is going to need it."

"Okay, we're getting closer to the Hat-Trick, the best three picks from each of our tipsters for this third Test, but I do want to come back to Ben very quickly just to see if there's anything else that you've spotted, Ben, from those 10Cric prices."

"Look, I think England winning the match is the standard one. I think it's just too long for me. There's another interesting one, Ben Stokes at 4.9 the top batsman.

I think if England loses a few wickets early on, he's in for a shout then, but you kind of expect England's top batsman fits the first three batters. So obviously, pope had a good one. Not really. You know, as far as value goes, not really.

I think the one that does stand out is Joe Root; he's due for one, and England does get off to a pretty good start. So they're the two standout ones for me.”

"Ben Stokes mentioned, though, I'm going to have to tell you that he's won one in 23, the Stokes on first innings. It was in this series, but I suspect he's too short. But we crank up the pressure now for the Hat-Trick. We're going to go to each of our guys for one bet each.

Don't forget to go to cricket-betting.com for all your third test analyses and cricket tips. Three tips, three areas of expertise, we are keeping score on how they get on. These are one-unit level stakes, and across the board, all level pegging because we're minus one for each of them after the show last time.

Let's keep it short and snappy, please. Let's have the bet, very quick reasoning why. I'm going to go to John Wright first, please."

"You honestly think with Joe Root, first did I think this Test match will be won in the first innings. Joe Root to get over 30.5 runs in the first innings at 1.83, I believe it is, that'd be my bet. He's overdue, and I think England is going to need him, and he's the class act, the best player in the England side. So that's on with Joe Root. I think Joe, over 30.5 in the first innings at 1.83, I think it is."

"Right, Manish, what have you got?"

"As I said, I like how Zak Crawley is playing, and even though I would have called him for a 50 in this first innings, I would go with Zak Crawley over 21.5 at 1.83. He has done this nine times out of 10 in the last 10 innings, and he's just looking confident, and 21.5 is way too low for him at the top of the order."

"Okay, creepy Crawley to get some runs for Manish. Ben, mentioned so many bets, I mean, what's your absolute top pick, standout?"

"I like both those, but I don't think they give value for a better. But mine goes back to England getting more than 47.5 in the first 10 overs at 2.52. I think that's just great value."

"Good stuff. England will not die wondering, please do make a note of those bets.

This is the Hat-Trick. Don't forget to check out match prediction on Cricket-Betting.com.

We are back next time for the fourth Test between England and India, finding more three standout cricket bets. This has been the Hat-Trick with cricket-betting.com. We'll see you next time."