UAE vs India Prediction: 7/1 Axar is a stand-out bet

Jamie Pacheco previews India's opening match at the Asia Cup, up against hosts the UAE, played in Dubai on Wednesday with a start time of 15:30, and live on TNT Sports.  

Jamie Pacheco is loving the price on Axar Patel for top India bowler honours and also has two decent tips on the UAE top bat market as he takes us through his UAE vs India Predictions for the Asia Cup clash...

*You can check out the Cricket Odds from all of our Cricket Betting markets over on betfred.com

UAE 

The UAE are currently ranked 15th in the world which to put things into perspective, is one place higher than Namibia and one place lower than Scotland.  

This will be their third appearance at the Asia Cup, the last of which was in 2016, but they've certainly had plenty of experience of hosting it, with three of the last four editions held there.  

They've just been playing a tri-lateral Series with Pakistan and Afghanistan, up against those sides twice, losing the lot, so finishing Top 2 in this Group here seems highly unlikely.  

Muhammad Waseem is currently ranked 25th in the ICC T20I batting rankings but they don't have a bowler in the Top 100, which tells its own story.  

India  

A reminder that there's no Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma or Ravindra Jadeja anymore in this format. But if anyone was thinking that was going to make things any easier for opponents, think again. The likes of Sky Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Shubman Gill are among the best in the world in this format and the other seven aren't too bad, either.  

They're the defending champions of the Asia Cup and have won three of the last five editions as their dominance of major international cricket tournaments continues.  

As ever, their big 'problem' here is not knowing who to leave out. Given it's in the UAE, they'll want to play three frontline spinners with Pandya the sixth bowling option. The batting line-up may spring a surprise or two, but you'd think that at least nine of the players featuring will be the obvious ones.  

Pitch and conditions

We're at Dubai for this time. First things first, it starts at 15:30 UK time, which is 18:30 local time, so expect there to be dew, mostly in the second innings. That as we know, makes gripping the ball tougher and especially for spinners, so expect most teams to want to chase.  

200 first up is almost unheard of at this ground but if anyone is going to do it at this tournament, it might just be India in this very match. Anything over 160 bating first and you're very much in the game but you'll have to deal with the potential dew.   

Match Winner odds

Not much to see here, folks. India are 1/50, 98% implied probability. We can't picture how an upset might happen, so we won't try to.  

*For all the latest and live India vs UAE Odds then head over to betfred.com 

India Top Bowler 

I simply can't understand why Axar Patel is 7/1 here. Well, to an extent I can. Ther traders are convinced that in his opening spell the great Jasprit Bumrah will rip through the UAE's top order with a mix of toe-crunching yorkers, well-disguised slower balls and other tricks. Well, he might, he might not.  

It would be no surprise to me if they go almost into Test match mode against Bumrah and just try to not get out to him, taking their chances against the rest.  

And the 'rest' very much includes our man Axar, who almost always gets through his four overs and has a good record. Sure, you'll find bowlers who average better than a wicket a game (71 in 71 matches) but what that record doesn't tell you is that his strike rate has vastly improved over the last couple of years, so it's probably closer to 1.5 wickets a game these days.  

We all know from the Hundred the importance of being on bowlers at big prices with dead-heats never too far away and at 7/1, even a three-way one would see us return a very good profit.  

UAE Top Batsman  

That man Waseem, also the skipper, has far better batting numbers than anyone else in the team. That's why he's ranked 25 when no-one else in the side makes the Top 100. He opens the batting.  

An average of 37, strike rate of 155 and 23 T20I fifties and three centuries are elite numbers, irrespective of who he's been playing against.  

Unsurprisingly, he's the 14/5 favourite but you can see why. Asif Khan, who should bat at four or five, has good numbers too and is worth a saver if Bumrah does indeed rip through the top order.