India vs South Africa Prediction: Bosch and Pandya the men to back

Two teams who breezed through the group stage meet in the Super 8s this weekend. Jamie Pacheco previews India v South Africa in Ahmedabad on Sunday, February 22, with a start time of 13:30, live on Sky Sports, as both India and the Proteas look to maintain their perfect record so far.    

Jamie had two winners at 10/3 and 13/5 from his two bets the last time India were in action, so let's see how he gets on this time...

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India vs South Africa Preview & Team News:

India  

India are going to be hard to stop this tournament.  

With the bat, if Ishan Kishan or Sky Yadav don't get you, someone else will, last time out that someone being Shivam Dube, who scored 66 off 31 coming in at five.  

Hardik Pandya also played an important knock of 31 off 20 and had it not been for those two, things could have been pretty close against the Netherlands on a good wicket.  

With the ball, Varun Chakravarthy reminded us all of his ability to take endless wickets, especially against associate nations. Not that we needed reminding, because he was a 13/5 (winning) selection for us ahead of the game. One man who didn't get out was Bas de Leede (Dube claimed that wicket), who top-scored for his side with 33 after we'd backed him at 10/3 to do just that; so it was a perfect result for us on the day.  

The one area of concern is Abishek Sharma, who, incredibly, is yet to score a run all tournament. He missed two games with injury and got ducks in all of the three games he did play in. But it's hard to see them drop the Number 1 ranked T20I batsman in the world, isn't it?   

South Africa  

Four wins from four suggest South Africa are in a good place right now, but they certainly did it the hard way in that match against Afghanistan that needed not one but two Super overs to settle the matter. To put it bluntly, the Afghans should have won that game in both 'regular time' and in the first Super Over, so SA really did dodge a bullet there.  

In between those two games, they did, however, beat Namibia.  

Whether resting players in their dead rubber against the UAE proves to be a master stroke or ill-judged remains to be seen. 

Marco Jansen will certainly return and could be their most important player on the day as their strike bowler, number 7 finisher, and boundary rider.   

Dewald Brevis and Tristan Stubbs will have to be at their best in the middle-order when spin comes into play.  

Pitch and conditions 

We're at Ahmedabad for this one, so expect plenty of runs. The side batting first will be eyeing up close to 200, but that may not be enough.  

India have been good in the chase, and there may be some dew, so if they win the toss, expect them to want to bowl first.  

Match Winner odds. 

India are 2/5 with South Africa 15/8.  

I'd be lying if I said the price on SA wasn't tempting. Super Over or no Super Over against Afghanistan, they're unbeaten so far, and India aren't perfect, so could go pretty close.  

But spin could play a big part and India is much better stocked in that department. We've shown a good profit without having to play this market (admittedly, the only time we did we had the Windies to beat England at 15/8), so we'll leave it alone again.  

*You can bet on this match and check out all the live India vs South Africa T20 World Cup Cricket Odds over on betfred.com

South Africa Top Bowler 

This one is a bit of a left-field pick, but hear me out.  

Corbin Bosch has taken five wickets in three matches, and it's reassuring he's bowled his four overs in each of those, as it suggests he might bowl his full quota here again, a big positive.  

The man to beat on current form is Lungi Ngidi who has eight in just three games and is 3/1. Jansen, also 3/1, has been good too, Kagiso Rabada not so much, while Maharaj's spin is unlikely to trouble India's batters too much.  

Bosch may well bowl at the death and pick up some cheap wickets, and is a higher price than any of those, so he's our pick at 4/1.  

India Top Batsman  

I've had a small punt on Hardik Pandya this tournament already and it didn't come off but assuming he bats at five again, he had a better chance than being a 9/1 shot suggests. With all the experience in the world and the ability to score extremely quickly in the death overs, he's worth another try.  

Jamie Pacheco Cricket P/L 2025: 

• Points Staked: 146 
• Points Returned: 151.7  
• Final P/L: +5.7pts  

Jamie Pacheco Cricket P/L 2026:   

• Points Staked: 22.25 
• Points Returned: 30.08 
• Current P/L: +7.84 

Jamie Pacheco predominantly covers Cricket and European Football 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...  

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Available 09:00 04/02 – 05:30 07/02. Top Price/Joint Top Price all teams to win T20 WC with selected bookmakers using Oddschecker for comparison. Max Stakes Vary. Prices may fluctuate. T&Cs Apply.

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