The biggest match of the Cricket World Cup so far takes place on Sunday as Old Trafford stages the tournament for the first time when the Asia giants of India and Pakistan meet. Focus immediately turns to the final of the Champions Trophy in 2017 which Pakistan won but that was an all too rare victory against the enemy for them.
Having encountered the rain already in the tournament both teams will be hoping the weather is better than the forecast for the Manchester area on Sunday so that they have the chance of picking up a positive result.
AllSportsBetting Podcast
Kev and Steve are back to preview the big one! Listen to them discuss the new venue of Old Trafford, the two teams and the bets that they have. Click play on the video to listen to their advice and get all their bets.
India
It is so far so good for India in this tournament. They have won their two completed matches against South Africa and Australia and they have watched the rain put paid to their hopes of facing New Zealand. None of that matters now though as this is the one they want to win and anything but a victory here will not be acceptable so the stakes are pretty high for this contest.
The success of the Indians so far in the tournament has been down to their opening pair with the bat and the excellent of their bowling attack and if those trends can continue in this match they are going to be very tough to beat. If they have a weakness it comes in the middle order but when the top order goes as well as theirs have been doing that hardly seems to matter.
Pakistan
This is a bigger match for Pakistan than India for so many reasons. Their poor record against their rivals will be a huge disappointment to them and that is one thing but in terms of this tournament they have had a washout and two losses from four matches so they really need to click into gear and get a run of wins going if they are going to be here when the semi-finals are being played.
In order for that to happen they need to start finishing their innings off properly. With the exception of their opening game they have been getting into good positions with the bat but letting it slip around the 40 over mark. It is only a small thing but it can be crucial, especially with their bowling attack having found some form in recent times.
Team News
India will be without Shikhar Dhawan for this match. It looks like Vijay Shankar is going to come into the side with KL Rahul going up to the top of the order. That is likely to be the only change to the team which beat Australia.
Pakistan might look to alter their batting in order to finish their innings better. Haris Sohail would be an option while Shadab Khan could come back into the side for his all-round abilities. Shoaib Malik’s place might be taken on trust rather than reliability.
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Betting
There are a lot of differing forecasts for this match and it is hard to know which one to trust but to be honest there aren’t many bets that I have on my shortlist anyway because India are so dominant against Pakistan. Usually I’d feed on that but the absence of Shikhar Dhawan does concern me so in the end I’m left with one from the side markets.
That comes in the form of the run line of 34.5 given to Rohit Sharma. He has already covered that twice in his two knocks in this tournament to date and with half of innings against Pakistan throughout history seeing him pass 50 I’ve got to think it will happen again. Pakistan’s seamers aren’t really getting stuck in and this ground is a batting paradise these days. Sharma generally keeps his form going for sustained periods so I really like the over here.
Tips
WON – Back R.Sharma – Over 34.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfair
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