Betting Tips South Africa v India

Preview South Africa v India

Hello, India so nice of you to join us....... with most of the other teams already having played twice and this being South Africa’s third game, the long wait for the fans of the most populated cricket playing nation on the planet can finally end.

Has India’s delayed start been to their advantage? I guess we won’t know until the end of this match but my feeling is that it probably has. They will have avoided some of the greener wickets around in the early stages and a few of their key players will have had time to rest following a brutal schedule over the last year.

For South Africa we are now getting into the “must win” category of games. They have 2 matches under their belt already and perhaps that match sharpness will prove to be key here. That being said, the squad's morale is not likely to have improved any on hearing that Dale Steyn will not be available for the entire tournament. With Ngidi also not available due to the hamstring injury he sustained during the loss to Bangladesh it appears that things are unravelling pretty quickly for the Saffers in this World Cup.

The Venue - The Rose Bowl

This will be the first game that we've seen at the Rose Bowl AKA the Aegus Bowl in Southampton so it will be interesting to see if a little more grass has been left on it in order to preserve its condition for the later parts of the tournament.

What we do sometimes get with the pitches at this venue is a little bit of uneven bounce and two pacedness - I'm not sure that's actually a word but cricket lovers will know what I mean. Certainly, that was the case when England played a warm-up game against Australia here a couple of weeks ago although that was on a used pitch and not the one they will play on tomorrow.

In fact, this venue has been a place that England's batsmen have enjoyed over the last few years as the below stats show so there is every hope that with the quality of player we have on both sides that we'll see some runs today.

You would imagine the likes of Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Dhawan will enjoy these conditions

As well as the pitch conditions, it will be interesting to see how the events of the last couple of days will also influence the captains' decisions at the toss. South Africa won the toss in both their opening matches and decided to put the opposition in. Even if there is a bit of grass on the pitch tomorrow will Du Plessis have the courage to put the opposition in again, especially given that he is without the services of 2 of his strike bowlers?

Form Guide

2019 started pretty well for Team India with impressive series wins in Australia and New Zealand. At 2-0 up in a home series against the Aussies it looked as though India would come into the tournament on a real high but instead they lost the remaining 3 games. India's batting in those matches was particularly disappointing and it will be there that they need to improve upon most if they are to win this World Cup.

Number 4 has been a perpetual problem for the side and it looks as though KL Rahul will be given another run in that position for the opening match. There is no doubt that he is an exceptionally talented batsman but is number 4 his natural position in a 50 over side? The stats below suggest not but KL Rahul will take great confidence from the hundred he scored at 4 during one of the warm-up matches.

KL Rahul is naturally suited to opening the batting but India's strong top 3 means he's more often than not been pushed into the middle order.

The other questions surrounding this Indian team revolve around the balance of the side and whether they can get their selections right when it matters. We saw too often during their tour of England last year that they struggled to pick the right players at the right time and to suit conditions. There is no doubting that they have a squad capable of winning this tournament but can they utilise it well enough to do so?

While this match represents a massive challenge for a side who lost it's opening 2 games, perhaps it shouldn't be all doom and gloom for South Africa. After all, games at this level are won by the smallest of margins and the Proteas have been fairly consistent with their batting and bowling in the World Cup to date. Their top 6 have all made runs but none of them have quite managed to get the big score that was necessary for victory. Their bowlers have all taken wickets but perhaps haven't quite won enough big moments to limit the oppositions score. The question now remains as to how many games a team can lose and hope to qualify? I would suggest no more than 3 which means that South Africa are almost drinking in the last chance saloon.

Predictions

I'm going to back India to come out all guns blazing and look to make a statement on this tournament. Regardless of the pitch conditions, the Indian side has such great variety and skill within its bowling attack that it really should limit the South Africans to a manageable total.

I'm also backing several of the top batsmen to take advantage of what I think will be a pretty good batting track, plus I've got a £5 free bet from Unibet that I've placed on India not getting a duck in their innings

Current World Cup Betting Record

Bets made 19

Wins 13

ROI +2.37