The second match of a busy day at the T20 World Cup 2021 on Sunday is a huge one for two nations who arrived at the tournament with eyes on winning it, as India take on New Zealand in a huge Super 12 Group 2 clash in Dubai.
These two have only played one match in the tournament so far but they both lost to Pakistan and with Pakistan on six points from three matches and the winner of the earlier game moving to four points, this is a match neither can afford to lose.
India
You have to say India were taken apart by Pakistan in their opening match in the tournament. Such is the quirky nature of the schedule of this event they have had a whole week to assess what went wrong and to put it right ahead of what is a huge week for them. They have four matches left and will probably need to win all four given the battering their net run rate took in that loss to Pakistan. There are a couple of opportunities to come to improve that run rate but defeat here might leave their fortunes out of their hands.
While India were near enough beaten up front when their top order was ripped open by Shaheen Shah Afridi, the improvement really needs to come with the ball. They never really threatened to take a wicket even when they had 150 to defend and with pitches having got harder to bat on since that match they might not have that luxury in this match. Whether that improvement comes via a change in personnel or better use of their options remains to be seen.
New Zealand
New Zealand also lost their opening match against Pakistan but they were much more competitive in it and on the face of it look to have less to work on than the Indians heading into this match. They were the victims of the finer margins that tend to decide these T20 matches but even so there are probably areas where they can improve, and if they come on for the run, which they are entitled to do in these more alien conditions, then they could be a real handful.
Although it failed to work out, the one thing I liked about New Zealand in their opening match was that they were prepared to play the game situation. They rotated their batting order to meet with what was going on in the game but the changes didn’t really work. Ultimately it left them without a closer in their batting innings so that is something they need to think through. New Zealand have a strong bowling attack so they don’t need a humungous score to be competitive.
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Key Men
Rohit Sharma tends to have a good record whenever he plays against New Zealand and if he can survive the opening burst against Trent Boult and whoever else takes the new ball then he should be in a position to kick on and launch a decent total for India.
Martin Guptill could be a key figure for New Zealand in this match. We saw Pakistan race out of the traps against India in their first match and Virat Kohli never had the answer thereafter, if Guptill can do the same here New Zealand might steal a similar march.
Betting
Dubai has been a chasers paradise in this tournament so it is hard to bet on the match outcome without knowing which team is going to be batting second. I fancy New Zealand are in a better place than India right now but that doesn’t count for a lot if they end up batting first. Usually I would look to take a player performance bet or something along those lines in this situation but all of the lines look about right it has to be said.
That means I’ll only have a small bet on the match which comes in the form of Rishabh Pant to be the Top India Batter in this contest. I would have been tempted at 8/1 regardless of the situation but the fact that both the New Zealand spinners turn into the pads of the left-hander makes me like him even more. Better still, the Kiwis have the bowlers to keep the India top three relatively quiet to allow Pant to have a chance when he walks to the crease. Pant looked good against Pakistan when he smacked 39 from 30 balls and with the spinners likely to be easier to face for him than the rest of the top five who are all right handers makes me think there is plenty of mileage in that 8/1.
Tips
Back R.Pant Top India Batter for a 1/10 stake at 9.00 with Betfair
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