India vs Pakistan Prediction: Three Bets for Sunday’s huge T20 World Cup clash

After some consternation at government level, the big one that everyone has been looking for will go ahead as India will play Pakistan in the T20 World Cup on Sunday. Jamie Pacheco previews the clash, which is scheduled for 13:30, as India look to better what is already an excellent record against Pakistan in World Cups.   

Jamie has three bets, at sensible stakes, ahead of this one, and just one of them coming in will guarantee you a profit for the game...

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India vs Pakistan Preview & Team News:

India  

India secured as comprehensive a win as you'll find in this format, downing Namibia by 93 runs after posting 209/9 and restricting their opponents to 116.  

The only slightly surprising thing about India's win was that they didn't get to around 250 batting first.  

When you consider that Ishan Kishan smashed 61 off 24, Hardik Pandya scored 52 off 28 and Sanju Samson 22 off just eight deliveries, you can see why 209 looked a little on the 'short' side.  

Of course, in the end it didn't matter, but they were on course for a record-breaking first innings score at one stage.   

Pandya then took 2-21 with the ball to help him get a Player of the Match award.  

Varun Chakravarthy reminded us of his ability to take endless wickets, particularly against batters not at the level he's used to bowling against, with 3-7 off just two overs. Skipper Sky Yadav didn't bother giving him any more overs in an attempt to give the likes of Shivam Dube some practice with the ball.   

Abishek Sharma missed out due to a stomach problem and the same may happen here again.   

Pakistan 

'Pakistan' and 'chaos' are words that often go together and with good reason.  

They could easily have lost to the Netherlands chasing just 148, and some better catching from the Netherlands would have ensured that was the case.  

But they didn't; Faheem Ashraf made them pay, and his 29 off 11 got them over the line.  

It was all far more straightforward against the USA, posting 190 and defending it pretty comfortably.  

Sahibzada Farhan hit a brutal 73 off 41 and is looking good this tournament.  

Star fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, less so. They'll need him at his best here, but on a more positive note, Shadab Khan is providing excellent all-round balance to the side and last time out got lightning-quick runs; and bowled well, too.  

Pitch and conditions 

Pakistan has agreed to play this match after initially boycotting it, which, in many ways, is a victory in itself for all involved.  

It will take place in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and if you were expecting a high-scoring thrash and bash, you may well be disappointed.  

160 batting first could be enough. Scoring is easy earlier on, but the wicket will take spin as the game progresses, and there's the danger of batters getting bogged down.  

Dew may play its part, so it would be no surprise if the skipper winning the toss chooses to bowl first and take it from there.   

Match Winner odds. 

India are 2/7 with Pakistan 5/2. You could make a case, or more than one, for the outsiders at that price. In the shortest format, where one brilliant innings, one win of the toss, or one outstanding bowling performance can turn a game on its head, it's really not that much of an ask for Pakistan to upset the odds, given the talent at their disposal.  

Then again, I've seen it all before regarding what's happened in this fixture over the years; India inevitably wins it. So we'll leave it alone.  

*You can bet on this match and check out all the live India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup Cricket Odds over on betfred.com

Best Bets  

Normally, I go through all of these markets individually but given this is a special match and that this could be a very tricky wicket, I'll lump all my tips together, so here they are.  

Hardik Pandya missed out on a top bat win at big odds last time out, but not by that much with his 52 off 28 a little short of Kishan's 61, but batting at five again, and with Pakistan capable of making early inroads, it's not impossible that he goes one better this time around at a big-looking 13/2.  

A similar thing could be said of Pakistan's Shadab Khan at 14/1. He came in at six last time and smashed it all over the park, so if Pakistan have an early collapse - by no means out of the question – a repeat of that could be enough.  

But the most confident bet is that Chakravarthy is at it again. He won last time out despite only bowling two overs, so imagine what he could do with four. 13/5 is pretty fair for a man with his ability and record.  

Jamie Pacheco Cricket P/L 2025: 

• Points Staked: 146 
• Points Returned: 151.7  
• Final P/L: +5.7pts  

Jamie Pacheco Cricket P/L 2026:   

• Points Staked: 19.75 
• Points Returned: 23.20 
• Current P/L: +5.61 

Jamie Pacheco predominantly covers Cricket and European Football 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...  

Top Price

Available 09:00 04/02 – 05:30 07/02. Top Price/Joint Top Price all teams to win T20 WC with selected bookmakers using Oddschecker for comparison. Max Stakes Vary. Prices may fluctuate. T&Cs Apply.

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New customers only. Deposit via Debit Card & place first bet £10+ (1/1+) on Sports in 7 days. £30 Sports & £20 Acca Free Bets within 10 hrs of settlement. 7-day expiry. Eligibility, payment excl. & T&Cs Apply.