We already know the two teams who will contest the T20 Tri-Series final on Friday but before they do we have one more group match remaining in the competition which sees Pakistan taking on Bangladesh in Christchurch.
Pakistan are already through to the final with a match to spare and therefore have two outings before they begin their World Cup campaign. This will be the final match that Bangladesh play before the official warm-up games get underway.
Pakistan
Pakistan have bounced back from their series defeat to England nicely. They are already in the final of this competition and if they want to take that final seriously but still try things out for the T20 World Cup later in the month then they have a dead rubber here to do with as they wish. Pakistan were beaten by New Zealand in their latest outing and have a chance for revenge on that opponent on Friday but for now it is about continuing their good form.
This might be an opportunity for Pakistan to try out a new opening pair in case they come into injuries in the World Cup. That could mean putting Shan Masood up to open and bringing a middle order in for a bit of game time. They do need to work a little on that batting order but one thing which doesn’t need sorting out is their bowling. When the World Cup begins we can expect that department to be spot on.
Bangladesh
After three defeats in succession in the competition, Bangladesh know their campaign will be over at the end of this match and then it is full steam ahead to make sure they are fully ready for their opening game of the World Cup where they face a team who comes through the opening stage of the event, which could see Bangladesh at a disadvantage. You would imagine with this being their last official match prior to the tournament beginning that they will play the team they will use in their first game.
The key focus for Bangladesh should be in their bowling attack. They haven’t really bowled well in any of their three matches in this competition and you would imagine they will be looking for a performance from that department ahead of the World Cup. They will also want a couple of batters other than their captain Shakib to stand up and offer some form as they will need more than their talisman to deliver the goods if they are to enjoy any sort of positive tournament.
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Team News
Pakistan might choose to give one of their openers a miss in this match with Khushdil Shah waiting for a place in the middle order and Shan Masood an obvious person to move up to open the batting if required.
Bangladesh will surely revert to the team which will play in the first game of the World Cup which should mean a recall for Mustafizur who has missed the last two matches. Shoriful Islam could be the one to give way.
Betting
The run line for this match is 304.5 which based on what we’ve seen over the competition as a whole looks fair enough but this pitch clearly played better than the other one on Wednesday and I don’t think we’re at the stage where the bottom will have fallen out of it or anything like that. That makes me think that the over is a good thing in this one but also the first meeting between these two covered it which is another positive to the chances of the over.
That opening match between these two sides contained 313 runs when Babar Azam scored 22 at slower than a run a ball and Shakib Al Hasan never played in the match at all. The other thing to factor into the equation here is Pakistan might rest one or two of their main bowlers which will assist the Bangladesh run scoring. They’ve just put up 160 against a decent New Zealand attack though and so I’ve got to think this run line will get covered.
Tips
Back Over 304.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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