Once again we have a double header of action at the Cricket World Cup on Saturday and with England’s defeat to Sri Lanka on Friday the tournament has opened right up so it could be a pivotal day in the competition.
The day begins with India taking on Afghanistan at the Hampshire Bowl with all eyes on whether the outsiders can follow Sri Lanka’s lead and pull off an almighty upset or whether India are the good things many expect them to be.
AllSportsBetting Podcast
Kev and Steve return to preview both matches in the Cricket World Cup on Saturday with their first episode being the match between India and Afghanistan in Southampton. Listen to the episode by clicking play below for a full preview of the match.
India
It has been pretty serene progress for India in this tournament thus far and although it will get more difficult over the remainder of the group phase, the way they dealt with Pakistan last time out suggests they may well be ready for that. Injuries are beginning to stop India getting up a head of steam with a settled side but in truth it doesn’t look to be making much of a difference. They have a chance here to remind everyone that they are the top dogs here.
The one thing which India have had at their use is that their key players have all delivered the goods in this tournament already and are likely to keep on going with that form. There are tougher matches to come for India but rarely are they a side to take their foot off the pedal against the lesser ranked sides so I’m expecting a solid performance from them here.
Afghanistan
There have been shoots of life in Afghanistan at a few stages in this tournament and their biggest positive to date was batting the 50 overs against England earlier in the week. Back at the start of the tournament they bowled Sri Lanka out so if they can put the two together at some point they will be confident that they could yet depart these shores with a scalp to their name.
If they are going to find that win then they need to stop collapsing in their middle order. A few times they have had themselves settled with the bat, maybe not at any great rate but going along ok only for the skittles to come out and the platform they worked so hard to build was gone. The other issue they have had is their star man has had a shocking campaign thus far at just the wrong time from an Afghanistan point of view.
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Team News
It would appear that there is uncertainty over whether Vijay Shankar is going to be fit for this match. Dinesh Karthik or Rishabh Pant could come in for him while Mohammad Shami will replace the injured Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Afghanistan have long since gone past the panic time where the chopping and changing really begins. It is not recommended but it is almost the natural reaction to any difficulties. It doesn’t help guessing the make up of their team though.
Betting
I’ll take a few bets on this match. The first of them is on under 10.5 sixes. I just don’t see Afghanistan clobbering this Indian attack for many sixes. So far it has conceded three to Pakistan and four to Australia on smaller grounds than this and South Africa only took it for three at this venue so this line looks high. Even if India dominate with the bat much of their scoring is going to be done along the floor you would imagine. This is a big ground and Afghanistan aren’t going to offer much pace on the ball. Under 10.5 sixes looks the way forward here.
I will also take the performance line of the Afghanistan skipper Gulbadin Naib, who is at least leading my example and having a decent tournament personally. His line here is 28.5 which when he is likely to open the batting and bowl a full complement of 10 overs looks a little on the low side to me. He has shown he can bat in this tournament with 31 against Australia, 23 against Sri Lanka and 37 against England and he has wickets in three of their five matches. Average performances in all departments covers this as does a decent one in any of them. I’ll take the over.
My last two bets on this match both come in the request a bet type thing with Betway where I’ve permed together Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul to make 50 and Yuzvendra Chahal to take more than one wicket. That makes up one bet and I’ve added Kuldeep Yadav more than one wicket for another. Sharma has 50 in every innings so far while KL Rahul made 50 opening against Pakistan. Australia’s openers both made 50 against Afghanistan and South Africa’s would have too if Amla wasn’t shockingly slow. Afghanistan have been pathetic against spin so far. Zampa took three against them, Tahir four and Rashid another three. I expect all four players to do their thing here.
Tips
WON – Back Under 10.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Betway
WON – Back G.Naib’s Performance – Over 28.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Betway
Back R.Sharma 50+ runs, KL Rahul 50+ runs, Chahal over 1.5 wickets for a 1/10 stake at 6.00 with Betway (betyourway market)
Back R.Sharma 50+ runs, KL Rahul 50+ runs, Chahal over 1.5 wickets, Kuldeep over 1.5 wickets for a 1/10 stake at 9.50 with Betway (betyourway market)
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