India vs Bangladesh Prediction: Go with 4/1 cool-hand Kuldeep

It’s India v Bangladesh on Saturday June 22 (15:30, Sky Sports Cricket) at North Sound as the tournament favourites and the outsiders go to battle on what should be a good track.

James Pacheco has his India vs Bangladesh predictions for you and is pre-empting things by telling you this is a match with limited betting opportunities and one where left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav is the only wager worth your while, at 4/1...

India

India are no one-dimensional team who can only do the business on tricky wickets like the one in New York, where their super-skilled bowlers could defend anything. As if we didn’t know that already.

No, they can thrive in very different conditions, although of course ultimate success in this format hasn’t been easy to come by since that win in the first-ever T20 World Cup back in 2007.

On a good deck against Afghanistan, they posted a very competitive score mostly thanks to one of those innings that only Sky Yadav (53 off 28) could play. That knock meant Rashid Khan and co were always up against it but spare a thought for Jasprit Bumrah, whose remarkable 3-7 off four overs wasn’t deemed enough to get him the Player of the Match award, which went to Sky. There’s no pleasing some people.

Axar Patel had a good game with some good late hitting (12 off 6) and some tidy overs that also led to a wicket.

Kuldeep Yadav, who bowled well himself (2-32) will battle it out with Mohmmad Siraj for a place in the side.

Possible XI: Sharma, Kohli, Pant, Yadav, Dube, Panya, Axar, Jadeja, Kuldeep, Bumrah, Singh.

Bangladesh

It was already a decent achievement to make it this far but once you’re down to the 8 best teams, you get the feeling the Tigers are going to struggle.

It’s not that they’re a bad side; it’s that they lack a bit of cutting edge and ability to handle the pressure. One or two musclemen to clear the boundary when needed is another thing they don’t have much of.

Against Australia, Najmul Shanto and Towhid Hridoy had decent hits with 40-odd each but there was little support elsewhere. That Australia chased their 141 with almost nine overs to spare tells its own story.

Rishad Hossain at least claimed the two wickets in his 2-23; bizarrely Shakib Al-Hasan didn’t bowl at all. We doubt they’ll win a match in the Super 8s.

Possible XI: Hasan, Das, Shanto, Hossain, Hridoy, Shakib, Mahmudullah, Mahedi, Taskin, Ranzim, Rahman.

Pitch and conditions

North Sound is a better wicket than Bangladesh made it look. We know that not only because of the ease with which Australia chased their score but from prior matches there.

Such as South Africa’s 194/4 or even USA’s reply of 176/6 against a strong Proteas bowling attack. Or how England posted 122 off just 10 overs against Namibia.

There is of course a big gulf in quality between the two sides. Or to put it another way: we’d expect India to post 180 or so batting first but don’t think Bangladesh will get many more than 155 if they get first use of the pitch.

India vs Bangladesh Odds

Not much to see here, folks. India are 1/10; Bangladesh 6/1.

If the difference in quality of the players doesn’t convince you India should win this relatively comfortably, maybe the head-to-head will: it’s currently 12-1.

Even if the Tigers did get themselves into a promising position, we don’t trust their nerves, much like we didn’t Afghanistan’s against such intimidating opponents. Let’s move on.

India Top Runscorer

With Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli struggling somewhat, there should be plenty of interest in Rishab Pant (18/5) and Sky (4/1) for top India batsman.

Pant has the advantage of coming in a place higher, Yadav has the advantage of being the better batsman in this format. I wouldn’t put you off either, but the downside is that in a chase of 140-150 they may not get enough time at the crease if one of the openers hangs around.

India Top Bowler

The world’s best batsmen aren’t the only ones who fear Jasprit Bumrah. Given his price of 23/10 for India top bowler hasn’t budged all tournament, so do the Betfred odds-compilers. It’s a shame because he has a great record against them and can cause havoc here.

But as ever, price is everything and at 4/1 I prefer to take a punt on Kuldeep Yadav. Bangladesh’s batsmen may feel his left-arm wrist spin will provide some respite from the likes of Bumrah, Arshdeep and Axar but they wouldn’t be the first to make that mistake and find themselves succumbing to his bag of tricks. After all, 61 wickets from 36 T20I matches is pretty much as good as it gets in this format.

Jamie Pacheco predominantly covers Cricket for us at Betfred Insights. You can check out his Cricket Betting Tips, along with those from the rest of the team, at our Cricket hub page...