India vs Oman Prediction: Keep it simple with 3/1 and 11/4 shots

Jamie Pacheco previews the India v Oman T20I match at the Asia Cup played in Abu Dhabi on Friday, with a start time of 15:30 and live on TNT Sports.  

Jamie has 3/1 and 11/4 chances on the top India batsman and bowler markets as he takes us through his India vs Oman Predictions...

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

India

India are top of the table in group A and have already qualified to the next stage.  

They've put in two near-flawless performances so far but that certainly shouldn't come as any big surprise: they've pretty much dominated every ICC event they've played in over the last few years.  

Kuldeep Yadav has been the main man with the ball, taking 4/7 against the UAE and following that up with 3/18 against Pakistan, picking up back-to-back Player of the Match awards in the process.  

Sky Yadav was his usual destructive self with a quickfire 47 off 37 last time out while Abhishek Sharma was quick out of the blocks again with 31 off just 13.  

Don't expect any changes for this one. They could do with a decent run-out here because they're yet to be tested but that's unlikely to happen in this game.  

Oman  

173 from the UAE was always going to be an uphill task for Oman last time out and so it proved.   

They let the two openers get off to a flyer and there was no way back after that with three players getting to 20-odd, their best efforts with the bat.   

If they struggled that much against the UAE it's hard to see things being any easier against this lot. But as we've said before, they'll only improve by playing the best sides, even though it doesn't always make for great viewing.  

Pitch and conditions

We're at Abu Dhabi for this one and we suspect it will be another good wicket to bat on, as evidenced by a decent 143 from Hong Kong, competitive scores of 139 and 154 from Bangladesh, and that 172 from the UAE.  

If India bat first here, things could get ugly for Oman, with India eyeing up 190-200. Then again, things could get equally ugly if Oman bat first with India's spinners and Jasprit Bumrah too hot for Oman to handle.  

Match Winner odds 

If there's to be a proper upset at this tournament, it's highly unlikely to be here.  

India certainly don't have a habit of losing these sorts of matches and odds of 1/100, implied probability of 99%, suggest they won't.  

Oman don't look likely to trouble India with bat or ball, so it's not worth spending too much time trying to figure out a way as to how they might.   

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

Top Indian Batsman    

Trying to pick lively 6/1 and 7/1 shots is all well and good but only in the right circumstances. And this isn't one of them.  

Abhishek Sharma is 3/1 and all things considered; that's a very decent price as second-favourite with Shubman Gill the 5/2 jolly. Anyone would be foolish to dismiss the chances of Sky at 14/5 simply because of how quickly he scores and how recklessly- in a good way, of course – he goes about his business. 20 balls could easily yield 40-odd runs if he's in the mood.  

But back to Abishek. It's worth remembering what happened in that first game against the UAE. Chasing just 57, Abishek went out and hit 30 off 16 before holing out. Again Pakistan, chasing 128 this time, he scored 31 off 13 as we know, only to be pipped by Sky's 47.  

In other words, he may be chasing a low score again, score quickly and not give anyone else much of a chance- including Gill who doesn't have as good a strike rate - as Abishek does. 195 from the latter plays 145 from Gill. 

Of course, things may not pan out that way but we're happy with the thinking behind it, and the price.   

Top India Bowler  

It may also pay to keep things relatively simple on this market.  

We've talked about Kuldeep, his seven wickets in two games and two top bowler wins already and the fact he's been doing that well shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, either.  

His 76 wickets in T20Is from 42 matches are elite numbers, as are his 222 in all T20s.  

Sightly weaker team soften find it the hardest to bat against are bowlers who spin it a lot or have lots of variations and Kuldeep is more than capable of doing both those two skills.  

With Bumrah (5/2) not quite at his best so far, Chakravarthy (14/5) also not in peak form and Axar not such a big turner of the ball, Kuldeep could be in business here at 11/4.