India and Sri Lanka meet in the second of three T20 internationals on Friday when the two sides head to Indore for what could be the deciding match of the series given the situation of the contest.
India emphatically won the opening match of the series on Wednesday and head to Indore knowing that another win will secure them the series. Sri Lanka have to win to keep the series alive and send it into a festive decider.
India
Although they are using their second string in this series India will be delighted with their performance in Cuttack. They went on the attack from the off with the bat and kept on attacking to get themselves up a decent score and then with the ball they were very dominant once the powerplay came to an end.
It would be a really good feat for India to win this series with a match to spare given that they are using a different squad for the series but we saw in the first game that those given the chance to shine are intending to take full advantage of their opportunity. They will be confident of landing the series here.
Sri Lanka
You have to say Sri Lanka got it all wrong in that opening match of the series. They got the toss wrong, they got their death bowling wrong and their performance with the bat is best forgotten albeit they need to learn from it because that is beginning to become a trend which nobody really wants to see.
To be fair to them they went well enough with the ball until the last five overs or so when the wheels well and truly came off but more of a concern would be the way they are falling to leg spin when they bat. They have looked clueless in the last ODI and the first T20 and someone just needs to stand up and bat sensibly.
Team News
It remains to be seen whether India will make changes to their side for this match or whether they will wait until the series is won to bring the other players in. Deepak Hooda and Basil Thampi are eagerly waiting for their chance.
Sri Lanka have to do something about their batting line up and given the number of bowling options they have they can bring in another batsman without weakening themselves with the ball too much.
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Betting
This is a tricky match to bet on given the struggles Sri Lanka are having with leg spin. They have the perfect pitch to combat that here. It is always good for batting and the boundaries are tiny which should help them put up some kind of a score but I must admit I’ve lost faith in them.
I’ll go with two bets in this match. The first is on Angelo Mathews’ performance. He missed out with the bat in the first game but he did take a wicket. We saw in the ODIs that he is capable of taming this Indian bowling attack so I have enough faith that he’ll score in this one. With the wicket taking option and potential for catches around the bat I think a performance line of 32.5 looks a touch on the low side.
MS Dhoni came out at number four in the first game and if he does that again here then 10/1 on him top scoring would look big. This ground definitely isn’t big enough for him when he gets going so as long as nobody in the top three goes big a late cameo from a man famed for such things could bring rewards.
Tips
Back A.Mathews’ Performance – Over 32.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back M-S.Dhoni Top India Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 11.00 with Betfred
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