Betting Tips: Bangladesh v India
Preview: Bangladesh v India
With India’s unbeaten record coming to an end, the question is whether their loss against England was merely a blip in what has otherwise been a very slick performance from Team India or whether we will see them lose further momentum against a highly organised and talented Bangladesh team?
There has certainly been a bit of a backlash from the Indian public in regards the performance of a few of their key players in yesterday’s game but then this squad must be used to this kind of scrutiny and the massive expectations that come with representing their cricket-mad nation. Indeed, I always chuckle when I hear the English media suggesting that the host nation may be wilting under the weight of the favourites tag because that pressure is nothing compared to what Kohli and his men have to put up with on a daily basis!
The Venue
It’s a quick return for India to the ground that they lost on this Sunday. Virat Kohli had some choice words about the location of the pitch at Edgbaston, calling the short boundary it created on one-side “crazy”. Interestingly India only managed to hit 1 six in the entire game and that came in the last over. Perhaps Virat and his team didn’t notice the dimensions of the ground before then? Given that they will be using the same pitch for this match there can’t be any excuses this time around…….
Short-boundary or not, I actually think both sides batted fairly well yesterday to make in excess of 600 runs on a pitch that looked a little 2 paced and is likely to have only gotten more sluggish since then! Personally, I think that either side would be happy to defend a score of around 280.
It was India’s spinners that were particularly vulnerable in Sunday’s match against England and with both sides likely to use slower bowlers for a minimum of 20 overs each in this game that short boundary could well come into play again. The key to success and something that England did far better than India yesterday, is to bowl one side of the wicket. Yes, 59 metres is a very short hit but the 82 metres on the other side means that it can become difficult to score quickly if the field is packed on that side and the bowler gives you little to no chance of hitting on the other. This didn’t seem to be part of India’s plan on Sunday which raises the concern as to whether that was poor planning or poor execution on their part?
Both Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav are naturally attacking bowlers and as such want to bring the stumps into play as much as possible. I wonder if Kohli will consider dropping one of those players for the more controlled left-arm spin of Jadeja or even seek to play a 3rd frontline seamer as we understand that Buvi Kumar is fit to be involved where necessary. The added bonus for India of either of those men coming in would be that they would lengthen the Indian batting line-up and perhaps give their top order more license to play a few shots.
Form Guide
India’s primary weakness, the middle order, has been clear for all to see for some time now. They have been mixing and matching numbers 4, 5 and 6 for several years and even coming into the tournament seemed to not be entirely sure of who to pick in the engine room of their batting line-up. I guess the problem/luxury that India have is a plethora of high-class players at their disposal but their failure to stick with a combination a little earlier may yet cost them in this World Cup.
On the flip side they do have the 2 top ranked batsmen in ODI cricket within their top order. Rohit Sharma has scored an incredible 3 hundreds already in the tournament and despite a slow start yesterday he was beginning to look imperious just before England managed to knick him off for 103. By contrast, Kohli hasn’t managed to go and post a big score yet but he has been incredibly consistent, notching 5 consecutive fifties in a row a record he jointly shares with Steve Smith who achieved the same in 2015.
Bangladesh therefore must know that if they can make early inroads into this Indian batting line-up then they might be in for a win that would rival their famous 2007 victory against India in the World Cup a game in which the likes of Tamim Iqbal, Shakib-Al-Hassan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mashrafe Mortaza all played in. The problem though for Bangladesh is that their bowlers have been struggling to do just that in this competition. With just 4 wickets in the powerplays of the six matches they completed and none of them falling to Mortaza or Mustafizur then it sounds like a tough ask to have them rip through an Indian top 3 containing Rohit and Kohli.
This fixture is always a very emotional match and one that in recent years seems to have gotten the better of a few of the Bangladeshi team. For example, who can forget the infamous T20 World Cup match between these 2 nations in 2016 a game that Bangladesh seemed to have won only to crumble at the very end? Or what about the brilliant late hitting from Dinesh Karthik that saw India snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in March last year?
In fact, Bangladesh haven't beaten their fierce rivals in any format of cricket in over 4 years and the last time these 2 sides met on this ground was 2 years ago in the Champions Trophy semi-final when India humbled their opponents in a 9 wicket victory. Bangladesh will have to play out of their skins tomorrow and hope that India have an off day if they are to reverse that trend.
Predictions
Despite India's loss on Sunday and the fact that they come up against a plucky Bangladesh side, I just don't see The Tigers having the firepower with either bat or ball to be able to pull off a victory in this match.
In regards live betting, look out for some possible abuse of that short boundary particularly when there are left-hand/right-hand combinations at the crease for either team which will make it increasingly difficult to defend - bet over in those scenarios.
Current World Cup Betting Record
Bets 64
Wins 40
ROI +14.27%
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