Aussie skipper backs India . . .
Bookmakers are finding it difficult to split New Zealand and India in the World Test Championship final, even if Australia captain Tim Paine is no such fence-sitter.
As the Black Caps joined their Indian rivals on a separate floor of the Hilton Hotel overlooking the Ageas Bowl near Southampton, Paine left no doubt as to his leanings when asked to tip a winner at a press conference in Brisbane.
‘‘My prediction is, India will win pretty comfortably if they play anywhere near their best,’’ Paine said. Paine at least can judge both sides from close range, having led Australia at home against New Zealand in 2019-20 then India in the recent summer.
On formlines from those respective series, Paine’s confidence looks well placed. The Black Caps lost 3-0 with a closest margin of 247 runs in Melbourne, before India stormed back to beat Australia 2-1 with a three-wicket victory in the fourth test in Brisbane in January. In between, the Black Caps beat India 2-0 at home in February 2020.
With heavy rain threatening on Friday’s opening day (9.30pm start NZT), and New Zealand coming off a 1-0 series victory over England, bookmakers are taking no chances with Kane Williamson’s side.
New Zealand’s TAB had India $2.40 favourites at lunchtime yesterday, to the Black Caps’ $2.49, with the draw tightening to $2.50 amid a poor forecast.
Playing conditions for the inaugural final allow for a reserve day, meaning the test can stretch into a sixth day if time lost to rain cannot be made up across the first five. If the test is drawn, there will be no countback and the title and ICC mace trophy will be shared, along with $1.7 million apiece in prizemoney ($2.2 million is on offer to the winner).
Australia’s tab.com.au had Virat Kohli’s India as slight favourites at $2.50 to New Zealand’s $2.70, while Ladbrokes in the UK priced India at 11-8 (the equivalent of $2.38) and the Black Caps at 6-4 ($2.50).
Paine was giving little significance to the Black Caps’ eightwicket victory at Edgbaston.
‘‘New Zealand are a good team, for one, and secondly it’s a really different team that we saw England out on the field to what we’re probably going to see in the Ashes ... keeping it in perspective it wasn’t England’s strongest team.’’