South Africa v Bangladesh Prediction: 11/2 Klassen is permanent

It’s South Africa v Bangladesh on Monday June 10 (15:30, Sky Sports Cricket) in New York, as South Africa close in on a place in the next round and Bangladesh look to build on their excellent win against Sri Lanka.

James Pacheco is dodging the match winner market to focus on a big-priced and very reliable South Africa batsman at 11/2 and a 4/1 shot for top Tigers bat who marches to the beat of a different drum in his South Africa vs Bangladesh Predictions...

South Africa

It’s hard to know what to make of this Proteas side so far.

The bowling has been excellent, dismissing the Netherlands for 103 and Sri Lanka for 77 the match before that. Ottneil Bartman has taken five wickets in two games, Anrich Nortje six, with Marco Jansen, K Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada all on two; they’ve only used five bowlers so far.

But the batting hasn’t been good, with two laboured efforts chasing low scores. Against the Netherlands they were 12-4 and on the verge of yet another defeat to the Netherlands before a painfully slow but necessary partnership between Tristan Stubs (33) and David Miler (59) got them over the line but not without a few late scares, too.

Their batting is therefore a concern and they won’t be chasing such low scores all the time, so someone will have to stand up sooner or later.

Marco Jansen has been good with the ball, took an outstanding slip catch in the last game and can bat, so is quickly becoming a key man for them.

Possible XI: Hendricks, de Kock, Markram, Klassen, Stubbs, Jansen, Maharaj, Rabada, Nortje, Bartman.

Bangladesh

Even if it’s all downhill from here for the Tigers, at least they’ve already got points on the board courtesy of a win against Sri Lanka in a low-scoring affair.

Litton Das (36) and Towhid Hridoy (40) were the two who most contributed to chasing down 125 after Player of the Match Rishad Hossain (3-22), Mustahfiz Rahman (3-17) and Taskin Ahmed had all done their bit with the ball.

What was odd about their win as underdogs was that it was done with little or no assistance from Shakib Al-Hasan who went wicketless and scored just 8 off 14. They’ll need him to up his game if they’re going to win here.

Possible XI: T Hasan, Sarkar, Das, Shanto, Hridoy, Shakib, Mahmudullah, Rishad, Ahmed, Sakib.

Pitch and conditions

We’re back at New York, the most talked about pitch in world cricket at the moment, which isn’t something you say every day.

That plays into the hands of the Proteas, who have played and won here twice already so should at least know how to go about getting wickets and keeping things tight, even if they haven’t yet learnt how to score runs here, apparently.

A good strategy might be to go under 125 runs on the first innings runs market if Bangladesh bat first. Both skips will probably want to chase.

South Africa vs Bangladesh Odds

*Please click on the link above to be taken to the main South Africa vs Bangladesh T20 World Cup market page on betfred.com (or app) for all the live betting prices on this match.

It’s 2/7 South Africa, 13/5 Bangladesh.

I certainly wouldn’t want to be backing the favourites at that sort of price after what happened in their first two matches.

Given those short pre-match odds though, it would have to take a fine start from Shakib and co to see that price drift to around evens. But if it does, it may be a good bet on SA simply because they have the bowlers who can bail them out and because of Bangladesh’s tendency for implosions.

But with a lot of ifs and buts regarding the pitch and what’s best to do at the toss, it’s a market best left alone.

Pakistan Top Batsman

Heinrich Klassen is 11/2.

Despite scoring just four in the last match, he hit a composed 19 not out in the game before so there are no suggestions he’s out of form, and this after solid contributions of 42, 32, 50 and 16 in his last four IPL matches.

For the last couple of years, he’s been not just one of the Top 5 white-ball batsmen in the world but he’s also one of the more solid wagers you can strike for top bat honours; given the lack of form of those around him, you could say he doesn’t have much to beat.

Which brings us to his price of 11/2. If you’re still not convinced he’s a good bet, at least we can convince you that with plenty of other bookies going just 10/3 and one solely 13/5, you’re certainly getting a far bigger price here than at most other Sportsbooks.

The fly in the ointment is as ever, that if SA are chasing around 120, he might not get a great chance if he bats at five rather than four; but that’s the risk we have to take.

Bangladesh Top Bowler

There’s always been an accusation that Bangladesh’s bowling can be a little samey with too many slow left-arm orthodox bowlers or right arm off-spinners in the side.

Rishad Hossain is a man trying to change that perspective with his leg break googlies, which if nothing else, at least offers a very different sort of challenge to SA’s batsmen.

His career numbers are pretty good rather than spectacular with a strike rate of 18 in his 36 matches but he bowled really well last time out and at 4/1, has six bowlers at shorter prices than him.

Jamie Pacheco predominantly covers Cricket 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...