India will face England in a crucial Super Eights game of the Group E at Lord’s on Sunday, with both teams in an unenviable position of having to win the game to stay in the competition.

India had lost their first game of this second stage of the competition to West Indies, while England was shown the door by South Africa.

India (4/7 at Stan James to win game) goes into the match as favourites to clinch the game, but then they had been the favourites to win the West Indies match as well and lost. The problem with this format is that the on-the-day form counts for a lot more than what had happened on the previous day, and with so much going against India off the field, it had taken its toll. Whether they recover enough to put it across England or capitulate again is anyone’s guess, but my sense is that one will get a much improved performance from the Indian stable on Sunday.

England (13/8 at Sky Bet to beat India) has looked quite patchy in the tournament so far. They had lost to Netherlands but came back to easily get better of Pakistan and then were routed by South Africa. Questions had been asked of the seriousness exhibited by England for this format and a loss here would invariably put them out and in front of the media knives!

Team India will heavily depend on their frontline batsmen, especially their openers, Gautam Gambhir (7/2 at Ladbrokes to be the highest Indian scorer) and Rohit Sharma (4/1 at Sky Bet to be best Indian batsman) to deliver. The West Indians had shocked the Indian batsmen with their barrage of short stuff, but for England to repeat the dose with their set of bowlers may not catch the Indians unawares for the second time in running. Yuvraj Singh (5/1 at Paddy Power to top Indian batting) did make for a strong case to bat even higher, probably at number three, but whether captain Dhoni shifts Suresh Raina (9/2 at Sky Bet to be the best Indian batsman) down the order remains to be seen.

For England, Luke Wright (9/2 at Totesport to be England’s best batsman) had been in red hot form before his failure against South Africa. Ravi Bopara (7/2 at Ladbrokes to be top English batsman) looks to have tapered off after an excellent summer in the IPL and against West Indies, while Paul Collingwood (8/1 at Paddy Power to be highest English scorer) bats far down the order to be a serious contender.

Kevin Pietersen (7/2 at Paddy Power to score highest for England) should play in this all-important game despite his injury woes, and if he does, my sense is that he will get quite close to being the highest scorer of the game.

Tips:
Favourites: India (4/7 at Stan James)
Top Indian batsman: Suresh Raina (9/2 at Sky Bet)
Top English batsman: Kevin Pietersen (7/2 at Paddy Power)