The last two sides to get their T20 World Cup 2021 Super 12s campaign underway in Group 1 do so in the first of the two matches in the competition on Sunday when Sri Lanka take on Bangladesh in Sharjah.
These two will be pretty familiar foes given that they are in the same part of the world and play in things like the Asia Cup. Both have come through the first round so will be fully up to speed and ready to give a strong showing.
Sri Lanka
The Sri Lankans were utterly dominant in their first round group. They won without their batting really coming out of third gear and while that will give them confidence in that there is still more to come from that unit, it will also be a concern because they could just have done with it arriving prior to this stage of the tournament. The positive for the Sri Lankans is that the signs are they don’t need a mountain of runs to be competitive in this event.
The reason for that is because their bowling attack has looked devastatingly good in the competition so far. We have to acknowledge that they faced three weaker foes in their group stage but in Ireland and the Netherlands they played a couple of established sides and Namibia were good enough to qualify. The Sri Lanka bowlers blew all three away and look ready to go again in this Super 12 stage and possibly even beyond too.
Bangladesh
Once they found their groove Bangladesh were pretty convincing in their group phase as well but we did see a vulnerable side to them when they were beaten by Scotland from a seemingly impossible to lose from position. That was their first game so we can cut them a little bit of slack. The positive was how they responded to that loss because they were effectively playing knockout cricket in their last two matches and were able to deliver two resounding performances.
The strength of the Bangladesh side is without a doubt their bowlers. We saw that in the series against New Zealand and Australia heading into this series and we saw it again in those opening three matches. They have the personnel to be a very good side with the bat but there is something missing from it at the minute. If they find the required recipe with the bat then they are a side who could go very well in these conditions.
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Key Men
Wanindu Hasaranga currently leads the Sri Lanka batting charts in this tournament and he has six wickets to his name as well. You sense that if Sri Lanka are going to go deep from here he will have a big part to play. That can start here.
Shakib-al-Hasan will start the Super 12s as the leading run scorer in the competition and the leading wicket taker and that is never a bad combination. Whether he can be as effective in much better company remains to be seen but he isn’t one of the best all-rounders in the world for nothing.
Betting
I’m expecting a low scoring match here but the bookmakers are all over that. There is no doubt in my mind that the two bowling attacks on show here are in much better form than the two batting units and they are probably the stronger area of the game for the pair of them as well. When you then factor in the pitch here in Sharjah which has been pretty tough to score on and you soon see why I expect a low scoring match here.
One market which doesn’t reflect the potential for a low scoring clash is the highest individual score. The line for this match is 62.5 runs which means we need the highest score in the match to be less than 63 as I’m going to take the under. That feels incredibly high when you consider we are looking at a ground where recent scores have suggested 140 is very good. That means we’re only likely to get someone in the top three who is in long enough for this sort of score. Nobody in the Sri Lanka top three is going well at the minute and only Shakib is for Bangladesh but he likes to play himself in. That line looks well out of reach to me.
Tips
Back Highest Individual Score – Under 62.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with BetVictor
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