India vs Pakistan Prediction: Hot on Kuldeep and chancing Afridi at 28/1

Jamie Pacheco previews the second India v Pakistan T20I match played at this year’s Asia Cup, played in Dubai on Sunday, with a start time of 15:30 and live on TNT Sports.

Jamie is sticking with that man Kuldeep Yadav for India top bowler honours while there are two scenarios where Shaheen Shah Afridi could have a chance to be Pakistan top batsman at a huge 28/1.

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

India

Sky Yadav had an interesting game against Oman on Friday. He rested Jasprit Bumrah, shuffled up the batting order, refused to bat himself allowing the likes of Kuldeep Yadav to come in ahead of him (Sky was the only Indian player who didn’t bat at all), then used eight different bowlers in defending 188.

But maybe there was method to the madness. Players such as Sanju Samson, Axar Patel and Tilak Varma got some valuable time at the crease whereas using all those bowlers will have taught him something about who he might use again in these conditions.

Sanson top-scored with 56 after a whirlwind 38 off 15 from Abishek Sharma. Four players each took a wicket, including our 11/4 pick Kuldeep Yadav, meaning there was a four-way dead-heat there. Better than a loss but still unsatisfying.

Bumrah will surely return with the main question being whether Arshdeep Singh keeps his place or if they go back to Varun Chakravarthy. Axar Patel hurt his head while fielding but should be cleared to play.

Pakistan

This isn’t the time or the place to go into what happened just a few hours before the match. Suffice to say it wasn’t good for cricket, Andy Pycroft or anyone else, for that matter.

Bit it’s the time and the place to point out that without Shaheen Shah Afridi, they may well have lost the match against the UAE.  His 29 off 17 with the bat was the difference between a very gettable target and one that was always going to be tricky on a slightly two-paced wicket.  And for good measure, he then took 2-16 with the ball to make sure Pakistan are still in the tournament and… that he picked up yet another Player of the Match award in international cricket.

Bar a fine 50 off 36 from Fakhar Zaman there wasn’t much to get excited about with Pakistan’s batting.

At least they had the sense to play Haris Rauf, while Saim Ayub carries on doing a priceless job with the ball, which is what’s keeping him in the side, because he has three ducks in a row, two of them golden ducks and the third one seeing him face just two balls. You’d think that sooner or later he’ll get a score and that his contributions with the ball make him worth picking anyway. But they always have the option of opening with Zaman and bringing someone else in to strengthen the middle-order.

Pitch and conditions

Pitch and conditions

Pitch and conditions

Pakistan will need at least 170 batting first against this Indian team in Dubai but that’s not to say they’ll get it.

If they have to chase, they wouldn’t want to chase any more than 160 themselves.

If India bat first, 180 or so should be achievable but that will depend a lot on the start they manage. If Abishek gets going, that could spell danger for Pakistan.

Match Odds

India are 1/5 here (83.3% implied probability) which is shorter than the 2/7 they were ahead of last week’s match against Salman Agha and co. No surprises given how dominant India were in that match.

Whether Pakistan are batting first or chasing, I’d say their best bet to win the match would be to go hell for leather in the first six, target 50 or so in those Powerplay overs and see where they are after that.  If they go down their usual route against India of trying to slowly build partnerships, keep wickets in hand and go for some big slogs at the end, like it was 1992 all over again, they can expect to have the usual result.

But of course, we can’t trust them to do that, so we’re not particularly interested in them at 10/3. Their record against India in T20I World Cups just gets worse and worse and now stands at seven losses out of eight.

So, this is a market to leave alone.

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

1pt Back Kuldeep Yadav to be India Top Bowler @ 14/5

We can feel a bit aggrieved about Kuldeep’s four-way dead heat on Friday. He took the first wicket against Oman, was unlucky not to take at least one more and then wasn’t given a fourth over to try and come back and take another, in the midst of all those bowling experiments of Sky’s.

But despite that, he’s still got two wins and a dead-heat, meaning he’s ‘won’ three out of three in terms of providing some sort of profit.

The other point was that Friday’s game was at Abu Dhabi, and this one is back at Dubai, where he’s taken seven wickets in two matches, so 14/5 is a very decent price to get on him again.

25pts Back Shaheen Shah Afridi to be Pakistan Top Batsman @ 28/1

Afridi didn’t win the Pakistan top batsman market against the UAE because his quickfire 29 was trumped by skipper Aghan’s 50.

But a batting collapse from Pakistan- never too far away- could see him have little to beat down the order.

Alternatively, and in an attempt to unsettle India with unusual tactics, he could be promoted to say five and asked to get on with it, knowing he’s always going to score quickly, however many he gets. The second scenario is somewhat more unlikely but at odds of 28/1, it’s worth a small bet.