The group phase of the Cricket World Cup concludes on Saturday with a final double header of matches, the first of which sees Sri Lanka taking on India at Headingley in what is a repeat of the 2011 final of this competition.
This match is more important for the winners of that final India than it is for Sri Lanka as India can still finish on top of the table if they win and Australia lose later in the day. That might be an advantage as New Zealand look more inferior compared to England.
AllSportsBetting Podcast
Kev and Steve are back for the final day of the group stage of the Cricket World Cup. In a dual episode they preview Sri Lanka against India and Australia against South Africa. They look into the meaning of the day and provide their best bets for the two matches. Click play on the video below to listen.
Sri Lanka
The Sri Lankans saw their tournament end against South Africa at the start of the week but they followed that up with probably their best display of the competition against West Indies and will be looking to go out on a high here. If they can see off an Indian side who could very well be just eight days from being crowned world champions again, it would represent another big win in a campaign which has seen them surprise many.
Sri Lanka brought their batting to the party in that win over the West Indies and that unit is certainly going to have to deliver the goods for them here too if they are to depart with a victory. Their bowling hasn’t been amazing throughout the competition but it has done enough to get the job done, but that department will also be tested against a gun line up. Sri Lanka are strong outsiders here but they’ve shown enough to be taken seriously now.
India
After their first loss of the tournament to England last weekend, India showed that was just a blip with a relatively comprehensive victory against Bangladesh in midweek and another one here will have them in good shape heading into the semi-finals regardless of what happens to Australia later in the day. They won’t fear England should they play them at Edgbaston but it goes without saying New Zealand are the better draw.
If there is a concern for India heading into the knockout stages of the tournament it comes in their batting. I would be seriously worried if I was an Indian fan about their middle order because the law of averages would suggest that Rohit Sharma could fail at some point and if that middle order gets exposed you wonder if they have the form to bail them out. It would be good from their point of view for them to be under a bit of pressure here.
Team News
It has been impossible to predict the Sri Lankan team for a while in this tournament and this would seem the toughest selection yet. Lasith Malinga could be playing his final World Cup match for his country.
India could decide to bring Kuldeep Yadav back into their side here with one of the seamers missing out. Given that he has played every match in the tournament it could be Jasprit Bumrah who sits out and has a rest before the semi-final.
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Betting
I’m only going with one bet in this match because there are a lot of lines that if India bat first and turn up they could blow them away to be fair. I think India will win but as I intimated above I think Sri Lanka merit a little bit of respect so ultimately the only bet I’m going to take here is on the performance of Hardik Pandya.
The line is at 47.5 which I think is a little on the low side given that he has been in decent enough form over the course of this tournament thus far. He comes in here off the back of three wickets against Bangladesh and has put together some decent batting efforts in the tournament. I believe his style of bowling will be ideally suited to Headingley so I expect his line to be covered accordingly.
Tips
Back H.Pandya’s Performance – Over 47.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.87 with 888sport
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