India vs South Africa Prediction: Leave it to Kuldeep in 4th T20

Jamie Pacheco previews the 4th T20I from Lucknow on Wednesday December 17, start time 13:30 and live on TNT Sports.  

Jamie thinks the incredibly consistent wicket-taking machine that is Kuldeep Yadav has a very good chance to be India's top bowler here at 3/1, while Donovan Fereira at 9/1 deserves a small wager, too as he takes us through his India vs South Africa Predictions for Wednesday's match...

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Match Preview:

India  

This cricket betting business can make you look pretty silly at times. 

After making a case for SA to win the 3rd T20I with the prices on offer based on X, Y and Z, they were three wickets down in no time, never recovered and lost as comprehensively as it's possible to in a T20 match. Arshdeep Singh, who had had a horror show in the previous game when we backed him for top bowler, ended up as Player of the Match; this isn't easy.  

Still, we salvaged some of our stakes with a four-way dead-heat 'win' on Varun Chakravarthy, who was 14/5 for the outright win.  

And if there was no bad luck with the bet on the match winner market, there was some here.  He was tied on two wickets with Harshit Rana, and we were looking at a decent payout before Singh took one more and Kuldeep Yadav took two. To make matters worse, Kuldeep's second was off the last ball of the innings. Still, it would have been worse if one of them had taken three, as we would have ended up completely empty-handed.     

Axar Patel missed out last time and has been ruled out of the rest of the Series. Shabhaz Ahmed has been named as his replacement, but the easier option is to play Washington Sundar. Jasprit Bumrah, who didn't play for personal reasons on Sunday, should return.  

South Africa  

To be fair to South Africa, those were not easy conditions they had to bat in when losing the toss and being put in.  

Maybe a slightly more conservative approach to begin with and a slash in the death overs would have been a better approach, but that's easy to say in hindsight.  

Aiden Markram was the best of a bad bunch with a well-made 61, while Donovan Ferreira at least had the good sense to realise he had to go for it rather than accumulate; his 20 off 15 wasn't a bad effort in the circumstances.  

They went into the last match without a specialist spinner but that was because of conditions; Keshav Maharaj could return for either Anrich Nortje or Corbin Bosch.   

Pitch and conditions

Six matches have been played here in Lucknow at T20I level, though three of them were in a series contested between Afghanistan and the West Indies back in 2019.  

As far as matches involving India go, it's played three, won three, beating the Windies, Sri Lanka and New Zealand.  

India managed 199 against Sri Lanka batting first in 2022 and restricted New Zealand to just 99 in 2023, so it's not an easy wicket to work out.  

The average runs per over in those six matches is just above 7, so don't expect a run-fest.   

Match Winner odds

India are 4/11 (73%) for this one with the Proteas 2/1; they were 15/8 ahead of the last match so have understandably gone out a bit.  

I could make a case for SA just as I did last time mostly based on the fact they have quality players and that the toss going their way could help their cause at a decent price, but I'll sit this one out; at least on the main market.  

*For all the latest and live India vs South Africa 4th IT20 Odds then head over to betfred.com 

India Top Bowler   

I'd be lying if I said this was a match full of betting opportunities; it's really not. 

But I'll chance a bet on Kuldeep, who was oddly left out of the first two matches. When he finally got his chance, he took his 'usual' two wickets. But what doesn't tell you, which the scorecard does, is that he only bowled two overs for his 2-12.  

With no Axar playing, he'll certainly be in action again here. Here are the number of wickets across his last four matches, three ODIs and Thursday's T20I: 4, 1,4 2. 

That means his T20I strike rate now stands at 11.5. He's not the only one with numbers like that. Chakravarthy (13.3), Singh (remarkably also 13.3) and Bumrah (17.1) are no slouches either, but Kuldeep's is still better and he's a slightly bigger price than the last two and the same price as Singh.  

Conditions will suit him better than in Dharmsala, so I'd be disappointed if he didn't at least get a dead-heat.   

South Africa Top Batsman  

Two batting collapses out of three meant that twice, Donovan Ferreira has had a good chance at top-scoring from number six. 

A repeat of that sort of collapse will see him in contention again, whereas as we've said before, his excellent strike rate can see him score at breakneck speed in the dead overs if needed.  

I'd hate to miss out on the 9/1 if he does come good this time, so I'm having a minimum stake bet on him.  

Jamie Pacheco Cricket P/L 2025: 

• Points Staked: 136 
• Points Returned: 130.18 
• Current P/L: -5.82