We head back to the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai for the ICC Cricket World Cup match on Tuesday as South Africa look to continue their march towards the semi-finals when they go up against Bangladesh.
South Africa not only have three wins from four matches so far but they also have the best net run rate in the competition so a win here will give them one foot in the last four. Bangladesh have just one win but enough teams have backed up to keep them alive should they win here.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh started the competition off in comfortable fashion easing past Afghanistan, which doesn’t look a terrible result right now by any means, but three relatively comfortable defeats have followed which has left their competitive hopes hanging by a thread. Those defeats were by 137 runs and with 43 balls to spare and 51 balls to spare. The catalyst for all three losses was their bowling went the distance and now they compete on a flat track which isn’t ideal.
The bowling is going to need to show up here but the likelihood is that even if it does then it will still go the distance at times so if Bangladesh are to end their losing run in the competition they are going to need their batting to be at its very best. They have had a number of players reach 50 in this competition but their highest individual score is 76 and you sense they will need someone to go on and reach three figures if they are going to come out on top here.
South Africa
Confidence will be sky high in the South Africa camp and you wouldn’t think we would be saying that after they were beaten by the Netherlands two matches ago. They restored their confidence in the most brutal way possible by absolutely battering England but there is a chance they were overrated a touch on that win. While South Africa played well in the game, England were absolutely rancid, so bad it had to be seen to be believed, but the Proteas can only beat what is in front of them to be fair.
The big positive for South Africa so far in this competition has been their batting. They have cleared 300 on each occasion that they have batted and almost made 400 for the second time against England on Saturday. They have leaked a little bit of gas with the ball but we should remember that these aren’t conditions in which their bowling group will generally thrive and they have bowled on a couple of absolute roads so far.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account and bet £10 to get up to £20 in free bets! Perfect offer for the World Cup! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Team News
Bangladesh will be hoping that their captain Shakib Al Hasan will be fit to return to the side. He will not only provide a top class batting and bowling option but he will balance the side much better too. Taskin Ahmed misses out once again.
South Africa will also be hoping that their captain Temba Bavuma is available to return to their side. He would come in for Reeza Hendricks which would be harsh but to be fair Bavuma leads the side pretty well so might be worth his place on that.
Betting
I was very surprised to see a 12.5 sixes line for this match. South Africa have just peppered these boundaries against England and the one thing that we saw in that match is that there is nothing wrong with the pitch and that the ball still flies here and I don’t see that changing in this match. I guess this line is so low because there is a perception that Bangladesh aren’t a big hitting side but there was an ODI between these two at Centurion last year where Bangladesh hit 11 sixes in conditions fairly similar to here.
If further evidence was needed that Bangladesh can contribute to the sixes line then you only need to look at their last two matches here. Against New Zealand in Chennai they clobbered eight sixes despite being 56-4 at one stage and then in Pune against India they hit eight more against the best attack in the competition so far. South Africa are hitting sixes like they are going out of fashion and here at Wankhede I expect to see more than a dozen of them.
Tips
Back Over 12.5 sixes for a 5/10 stake at 1.80 with Coral
