After a disappointingly one-sided Test series in the end, South Africa and Pakistan prepare to do battle in an ODI series which begins on Saturday, as both sides continue their preparation towards the World Cup in the summer.
Pakistan didn’t really show up in the Test matches but they tend to be a much more competitive animal in this format of the game. South Africa will be looking to showcase their ODI credentials ahead of the World Cup so we should get a keenly fought five games.
Schedule
1st ODI: Jan 19 at Port Elizabeth
2nd ODI: Jan 22 at Durban
3rd ODI: Jan 25 at Centurion
4th ODI: Jan 27 at Johannesburg
5th ODI: Jan 30 at Cape Town
South Africa
While there are clear and obvious concerns about South Africa in this format of the game, it is to their credit that they won three of the four series they played in 2018, including in Australia in recent times. There is the old adage that winning breeds winning and if they can keep on nicking series they could yet be big players at the World Cup over in England.
I still have big issues about the South Africa batting but there were some good performances in the Mzansi Super League and the Proteas wouldn’t be the first team to find some gems in their domestic T20 tournament who light up their ODI form. If they can find some consistency and depth with the bat they look to have most boxes ticked.
Pakistan
Given that they won the previous global event to be held in England, Pakistan will head to the World Cup as a team expected to contend for the title. If that is going to be the case they could do with the psychological knowledge of knowing they can beat these big nations so this could end up being a big series for them in the bigger picture.
It is becoming something of a broken record but Pakistan’s success or otherwise both in this series and indeed the World Cup will be determined by their batsmen. In the Champions Trophy they batted brilliantly, and in fairness their big batsmen have better records in this format of the game so it might just be about keeping their eye in. They look nicely stocked in all bowling departments.
Head to Head
Surprisingly, these two nations have only played four ODI series in South Africa in the past. The home side have won three of them but Pakistan can take a little bit of comfort in the fact that they won the most recent series although that was five years ago. South Africa have 11 ODI wins against Pakistan at home to six defeats so if history in this country is anything to go by then the Proteas would appear to be the favourites.
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Betting
Usually in a five match series I would look to have a couple of decent bets on the go but South Africa are playing silly beggars with their batting line up early in the piece which leaves me to go with just the one, which comes in the form of the Pakistan batting market. Although he is favourite I like Babar Azam here.
He was the second highest scorer for Pakistan in the recent Test series, scoring over 200 runs in the six innings, and when you think Pakistan struggled with the bat for long periods in that series I think that is going to be significant here. Azam is a wonderful ODI batsman. He averages more than 51.52 per innings and a shade under 55 in T20 internationals. Azam is so good that over five matches it is hard to see him not being the leading batsman for Pakistan in the series.
Tips
Back B.Azam Top Pakistan Series Batsman for a 2/10 stake at 4.00 with Bet365
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