The expanded format of the T20 World Cup means that each group has plenty of betting potential so before the tournament gets underway we can have a look in detail at each of the sections available, beginning with Group A.
This will be a high profile group for the tournament because it has the co-hosts USA in it and it also has two cricket powerhouses in India and Pakistan with their meeting likely to be one of the eagerly anticipated matches of the event.
The Teams
Canada make their debut in the competition in this staging of the event. They are the lowest ranked side in the tournament so they immediately have plenty of work ahead of them. They will set their sights as high as possible but realistically if they can win a match and be competitive in all of the others then they will have had a successful run. Aaron Johnson and Kaleem Sana would be their star players but the captain Saad Bin Zafar has an important role to play.
India are the highest ranked team in the group and will probably consider anything but winning the tournament to be a disappointment. They have only reached one final since they won the inaugural running of this event so they will be eager to put that right over the course of the month. With the likes of Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav all around there is no reason why India can’t have a deep run which should include dominating Group A.
Ireland have had success in the 50 over competition in this part of the world and they will be looking to show their talents in the 20 over tournament now too. They are the third highest ranked team in the group so if they are going to qualify for the second phase then they are going to need to cause an upset somewhere along the line. Ireland have a strong batting unit which could keep them competitive but Josh Little will need a big tournament for them with the ball.
Pakistan are past winners of this tournament and were the beaten finalists in Australia last time out. They will be keen to go one better this time around and as the second seed in the group they will be expected to come out of it and into the Super Eight stage. You sense their final match against Ireland could be pivotal in that. The spin quota of Pakistan is a bit of a concern heading into the tournament but in Babar Azam and Shaheen Shah Afridi they have two excellent performers.
USA are the co-hosts and will want to put up a good showing on home soil. It might be that this tournament has come a little too soon and actually when they host cricket at the Olympics in four years they will be much better equipped to put up the sort of campaign they would want to. Major League Cricket is still in its infancy but the money in it that is going to develop into a huge competition by then. For now, they need Corey Anderson and Ali Khan to have huge campaigns for them to be competitive.
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Group Betting
This isn’t really a group where there is much available in terms of the actual section because you would imagine that India will dominate proceedings and then unless the weather seriously throws a spanner in the works the match between Pakistan and Ireland might well settle who comes second. There is enough weather around this group though for me not to really want to commit money for either too soon though.
There is one bet that I like which involves the teams in this group though and that comes in the form of the 13/4 that India hit the highest score in the tournament. They have all four of their group matches in America and in Ireland, USA and Canada they face bowling attacks which could be cannon fodder for them if the likes of Suryakumar Yadav or Rishabh Pant get in and send it to all parts. There are probably only England, West Indies and maybe South Africa if Heinrich Klaasen catches fire that could go with India but you’ve got to think that the Indians have a 240 score in them if the stars align and that should be enough to land this market.
Team Betting
I like a couple of team bets in Group A with the first of them coming in Saim Ayub to be the top Pakistan batter over the course of the tournament. He was one of the better players in the CPL last season and will know all about these wickets and the conditions in this part of the world. Of course Babar Azam is the danger but it looks like Ayub, should he start the opening game which you would imagine he would having played in all three matches against Ireland and the first one against England, will open the batting and Babar come in at three so Ayub gets the chance to steal a march on him which could be significant. Mohammad Rizwan doesn’t look in the best form so the 6/1 on Ayub being the leading Pakistan batter looks big to me.
The other bet I like is for Mark Adair to be the leading Ireland bowler. There is rightly going to be a lot of attention on Josh Little who is very much the standout bowler in this Ireland attack but he hasn’t bowled much in competitive games recently having been on the Gujarat Titans bench for most of the last two months. The other thing about that is other teams know he is the threat in the attack and they will look to see him off and get stuck in at the other end. That plays into the hands of Adair who bowls with the new ball and at the death so is likely to pick up a number of cheap wickets. Adair took 12 wickets in the six matches he played against Pakistan and in the tri-nations with Netherlands and Scotland and a similar ratio here should see him run the top Ireland bowler close.
Tips
India – Tournament Highest score for a 2/10 stake at 4.25 with Unibet
Back S.Ayub Top Pakistan Tournament Batter for a 1/10 stake at 7.00 with Betfair
Back M.Adair Top Ireland Tournament Bowler for a 2/10 stake at 5.50 with Betfair
