India vs South Africa Prediction: Back Singh to the tune of 3/1 in 2nd IT20

A disappointing run chase from South Africa earlier in the week in the 1st IT20 ensures the home side has taken a 1-0 lead in the series. Jamie Pacheco previews the 2nd IT20 from New Chandigarh on Thursday, December 11, start time 13:30 and live on TNT Sports.  

Jamie has 11/2 and 3/1 shots for you on the India top bat and top bowler markets as he takes us through his India vs South Africa Predictions...

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Match Preview:

India  

India didn't start in the best possible way, losing two early wickets, but reminded us all that  a) they have plenty of game-changing options in the side, b) they're very hard to beat in their own conditions, and c) with so much competition in the side, every game matters. 

But maybe all of that may not have seemed so true if Hardik Pandya hadn't stepped up to the plate. Coming very much under point a) above, he came in with India in serious trouble but crucially, was positive from the start, and never looked back.  

By the time he was done, he was 59 not out with a strike rate of over 200 and helped India to a very competitive total on a trickier wicket than it first seemed to be. It's a good thing he did because no one else really got going.  

SA imploded rather than India doing anything particularly spectacular with the ball; all of their four frontline bowlers took two wickets each, Pandya also chipped in with one of his own.  

Kuldeep Yadav was rested/dropped for the 1st T20I, with Varun Chakravarthy possibly making way, or else they could just play the same side.  

South Africa  

South Africa posted the lowest total in their IT20 history, all out for just 74 after 12.3 overs.  

There's not much more to say other than the fact they faced decent bowling, played poor shots and India took pretty much all their chances.  

In the process, we missed a good opportunity for a top bat win at big odds. We had Tristan Stubbs (batting at three) at 15/2 and Donovan Ferreira (at six) at 9/1 and all we needed was one of them to get to 23 to have won the betting heat. Stubbs was a bit unlucky to get the faintest of edges on one missed by the umpire and was out for 14; Ferreira managed just 5.  

Earlier, Lungi Ngidi took three wickets but Anrich Nortje was expensive on his comeback, as was Keshav Maharaj.  

As mentioned in the preview, a few players who have been involved in all three formats on this tour may just be looking forward to that flight home. Corbin Bosch may get a game.  

Pitch and conditions. 

No T20I has ever been played at New Chandigarh. That's helpful.  

So, we can only go by what we know from the IPL.  Dew plays less of a part here than at other grounds, six out of 11 matches were won by the side batting first and…first innings scores have been all over the place, so it's hard to say what's par.  So not much to go by, really.  

Match Winner odds 

India have been cut from 4/9 (69%) to 2/5 (71.4%). We're surprised it hasn't been by more given the margin and manner of Tuesday's win.  

Then again, we know perfectly well that T20 is an extremely volatile format and a toss here or a superb knock can change everything.  

But not enough to be interested in the 15/8 on South Africa.  

Good on them if they win, but they were too poor the other day to justify a bet, and crucially, may not have the same energy and appetite for the fight as they did earlier in this Tour. At 2/5, India isn't a price I'm willing to take, either.  

*For all the latest and live India vs South Africa 2nd IT20 Odds then head over to betfred.com 

India Top Batsman  

A lack of knowledge about the surface makes any sort of bet on this match a bit trickier than usual but we can make a case for Tilak Varma here at a big-looking 11/2.  

Shubman Gill (11/4) has been out of form for a while, Sky Yadav (10/3) has struggled to the extent that he may not even be in the side on current form if he wasn't skipper: no fifties in his last 10 matches and that included a handful of domestic ones where the standard is lower.  

It would be a lot to ask of Hardik Pandya to do it all over again, though we note he's still a good price at 8/1; Axar Patel (14/1) often contributes but rarely wins top bat. Abishek Sharma is dangerous but half the price of Varma.  

So, Varma is the man for me. He should bat at four again, so should have every chance in that regard, and his record is excellent: averaging 46 in T20I and 42 across T20s. He's too big at 11/2.  

India Top Bowler 

Arshdeep Singh was one of the four bowlers to take two wickets the other day and may well have taken more if he'd bowled more than two overs. He has highly impressive numbers in T20I cricket with 107 wickets in 69 games at a strike rate of 13.1. 

Crucially, the evidence from those 11 IPL matches is that this is a wicket more suited to fast bowling than spin, so if we trust that, we can make a three-way choice between him, Bumrah, and Pandya.  

We'll leave Pandya out because he's unlikely to bowl all four overs. Bumrah hasn't been quite at his best of late, and that may be because he plays, then rests, then plays and may find it hard to get into a rhythm.  And for the record, Arshdeep has a better T20I strike rate than Bumrah (16.9). 

Arshdeep is also a bigger price at 3/1 and will bowl at the death, so is a sensible choice.  

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