Pakistan vs UAE Prediction: 6/1 Haris over-priced to top with the bat

Jamie Pacheco previews the Pakistan vs UAE IT20 match at the Asia Cup played in Dubai on Wednesday with a start time of 15:30 and which is live on TNT Sports.  

Jamie thinks it should be plain sailing for Pakistan in terms of winning the match but there are perfectly good 6/1 and 5/1 shots to back for top bat and top bowler honours. You can read his Pakistan vs UAE Predictions below...

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

Pakistan  

Pakistan put in their usual sub-par performance against India at the weekend, something they've made a habit of doing for the past few World Cups.  

127/9 was never going to cut it against that Indian batting line-up and so it proved. Shaheen Shah Afridi was the best of a bad bunch with the bat, his strike rate of over 200 in getting 33 off 16, making a mockery of the fact that practically no-one else could score at a run-a-ball.  

Earlier, Sahibzazda Farhan made a pedestrian 40 off 44 that arguably did his side more harm than good.  

Saim Ayub, the impressive young dasher at the top of the order was out first ball but took all of Pakistan's three wickets, to go with figures of 2/8 against Oman.  

Either way, that defeat to India was somewhat expected and it won't make much of a difference to proceedings if they win this one. It's hard to understand why Haris Rauf hasn't been playing as his pace is just the sort to put fear into opposition batsmen.  

UAE 

The UAE beat Oman on Monday, and in the process we returned a good profit.    

The former posted 172/5, which was always going to be an uphill task for Oman and our wager Junaid Siddique, of the UAE, did his bit, taking 4-23 and rewarding us at 14/5 for top bowler honours.  

In truth, the UAE are not a great side but as we said in our preview ahead of Monday's game, they can only improve if they play better sides, and they had the chance to do so here.  

But they'd need to win this one in order to progress, which looks a bit unlikely.   

Pitch and conditions 

Dubai shouldn't present us with any big surprises. It's not the easiest of pitches to bat on as proved by Pakistan struggling to get to 130 against India, although that was admittedly against some very good bowling.  

But they should get to 160 here, if they bat first. A reminder the toss is always very important here in Dubai, with dew coming into play, so bowling first is a big boost.  

If it's the UAE having first digs, they could struggle against a capable Pakistan bowling attack so might not get to 130.  

Match Winner odds.

Not much to see here, sports fans. Pakistan are 1/33 (97/1% implied probability), a price I wouldn't go anywhere near on principle. I've watched them lose too many matches as hot favourites over the years. 

But they should win.  The UAE don't really have any weapons to bother Pakistan and one way or another, Agha and co should get the job done.  

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

Top Pakistan Batsman

Mohammad Haris was one of our two bets for that India match and though he disappointed with just 3 off 5 before falling to Jasprit Bumrah, he deserves another chance.  

Junaid Siddique's line and length style of bowling can cause Pakistan's openers some problems so assuming Haris keeps his place at three, he should have every chance at a surprisingly big 6/1 to top score for his side. 

Top Pakistan Bowler

I'm kicking myself for not having backed Ayub for to Pakistan bowler at 7/1 against India. He'd already surprisingly starred with the ball in their first game with figures of 2/8 before taking 3/35 against India, the only man to take any Indian wickets on the day.  

I thought they'd be a little cautious about throwing the ball to a part-timer when the likes of Sky Yadav and Abishek Sharma were around, but clearly not.  

Let's hope he can go again at a very decent-looking 5/1.