India v Bangladesh preview and best bets
Cricket betting tips: India v Bangladesh
1pt India to win by 10 wickets or 90+ runs at 9/1 (Paddy Power, Betfair Sportsbook)
1pt India to win by 9 wickets or 81-90+ runs at 14/1 (Paddy Power, Betfair Sportsbook)
India have made a deeply impressive start to their World Cup bid, and the hosts and tournament favourites are expected to make short work of Bangladesh in Pune on Thursday morning, 9.30am UK time.
Having beaten Australia by six wickets, India then cruised to an eight-wicket success over Afghanistan, before trouncing Pakistan by seven wickets in their grudge match on Saturday.
Despite all the external pressures that come with being the India cricket team in a home World Cup, one which they are a short price to win, Rohit Sharma’s side have displayed a ruthless streak which suggests they are going to prove a tough nut to crack.
With Rohit leading from the front and making scores of 131 and 86 in the last two matches, and Virat Kohli starting with two half-centuries himself, the batting, now further boosted by the return of opener Shubman Gill, looks especially strong.
The bowling has been equally impressive. Jasprit Bumrah is fully fit again and firing, Mohammed Siraj is taking wickets with the new ball, and spin is working its magic in the middle overs.
It’s hard to foresee India experiencing too many alarms before the knockout stages now, and I don’t have any great expectations of Bangladesh who have been well beaten by England and New Zealand already.
They were brushed aside by 137 runs and eight wickets respectively in those matches, conforming their limitations against top-level opponents, and it doesn’t get much tougher than India in India.
It’s not all doom and gloom for Bangladesh. Shoriful Islam has taken wickets, veteran Mushfiqur Rahim and Litton Das have looked good with the bat, and I remain a big fan of Najmul Shanto who has yet to really fire like he can.
But captain Shakib Al Hasan is a significant injury doubt for this game with a thigh injury, and with or without him, Bangladesh look likely to be outmatched in all departments by a very strong Indian outfit.
As we’ve seen so far, India have displayed a genuine ruthless streak with the bat when chasing, but should they bat first here, this stellar batting line-up could post a huge score on a ground that has historically been good for batting in limited-overs cricket. The India runs line would certainly be very high if they batted first.
In such a scenario, Bangladesh face the prospect of being batted out of the game, while an India run chase could well follow the familiar trend of the top order making hay and completing the job with few casualties.
With a big India win expected, then, betting the winning margin with Paddy Power and Betfair Sportsbook looks the best way into this match, with INDIA TO WIN BY 10 WICKETS OR 90+ RUNS (9/1) and INDIA TO WIN BY 9 WICKETS OR 81-90 RUNS at (14/1) standing out. I’ll be 'dutching' both.
Ordinarily, I'd also be pushing the case for the aforementioned Gill in the top India batsman market, or for top match batsman, but such is the form of his batting colleagues, chiefly Rohit and Kohli, I'm happy to sit this one out and focus on the margin betting.
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