USA vs Pakistan Predictions: Former Kiwi can deliver with the bat for the US

It’s the USA v Pakistan on Thursday, June 6 (16:30, Sky Sports Cricket) with the USA trying to win their second match of the tournament and Pakistan trying to hit the ground running in their first.

James Pacheco has a top Pakistan bowler wager at 100/30 and is also putting his faith in an old head to deliver for the USA with the bat at 5/1 as he takes us through his USA vs Pakistan T20 World Cup Predictions...

USA

Whatever happens from hereon, USA have a win on the board and it was against their bitter rivals, Canada.

Having gone off as 1/4 favourites, those odds were turned on their head and they traded in-running at around 4/1 at the change of innings after Canada posted a very impressive 194/5.

Slow left-armer Harmeet Singh was the pick of the bowlers with an excellent 1/27 off 4 but everyone else was pretty expensive, which doesn’t bode well for a bowling attack who will face far more dangerous batsmen than what Canada had to offer.

So, it was a good thing that vie-captain Aaron Jones stepped up to the plate with a superb 94 off 40. It’s true that plenty of his 10 sixes looked more suited to a game of baseball than cricket, with no shortage of mid-wicket slog-sweeps, but they all count, and his hitting power was very impressive for a somewhat slender man. Andries Gous was good with 65 off 46 in that crucial partnership with Jones while star man Corey Anderson had something of a quiet game.

Possible XI: Taylor, Patel, Gous, Jones, Anderson, Kumar, H Singh, van Schalkwyk, J Singh, Netravalkar, Khan.

Pakistan

Babar Azam’s men were identified as the value bet ahead of the World Cup in our World Cup betting guide and since then, have secured a 2-1 Series win over Ireland and lost a four match Series to England 2-0, with only half of the matches being completed.

Worryingly, they weren’t great in either of those two matches that were actually played with top-order batsmen guilty of not kicking on after starts, a middle-order that took its time to find their feet when they needed someone to hit the ground running, and key man Shadab Khan worryingly out of form with both bat and ball.

Still, anyone who’s been watching Pakistan over the years knows they often fail to show up in somewhat meaningless bilateral Series but can turn it on when it matters. Equally, conditions out here are very different to those in the UK and Ireland and that will work in their favour.

Most of the team picks itself but they’ll need to make a straight choice between Usman Khan and Saim Ayub as regards who should bat at three, assuming they’ve given up on the idea of splitting opening pair Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. My own preference would be for Khan. The other Khan - Shadab - should keep his place for the team to be assured of good balance.

Possible XI: Rizwan, Babar, Usman Khan, Fakhar, Shadab Khan, Azam Khan, Iftikhar, Imad, Afridi, Amir, Rauf.

Pitch and conditions

This one is at Dallas, the same venue for that USA v Canada match.

The games played here in the Major League last season were high-scoring and that was backed up by Saturday night’s high-scoring affair.

Assuming it’s a similar strip, Pakistan will be eyeing up around 210 batting first; but they’ve been tentative in the past and may not have the firepower in the middle-order to capitalise in the death overs.

Though the USA impressed with the bat on Saturday night, wily bowlers like Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mohammad Amir, plus the rapid Haris Rauf will be a very different prospect to what Canada had to offer. If you get the chance to go under 175.5 runs at even money or so if the USA bat first, that could be a good wager on the first innings runs line.

USA vs Pakistan T20 Odds

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

One side is 1/12, the other is 13/2 and we don’t feel the need to tell you which is which.

But if you think you’re buying money by backing Pakistan, it may not be as simple as that. Pakistan have had a few shockers at World Cups over the years and it’s hard to know when the next one might come.

If USA have 180 or less to chase and get off to a good start, you never know. They may just carry on swinging for the rooftops and some poor fielding (another thing Pakistan aren’t immune to) added to the equation, could see them get close. A small interest on the USA batting second at 6/1 or greater isn’t the worst bet.

Pakistan Top Bowler

Pakistan have been playing just five bowlers of late. Two spinners in Wasim and Shadab Khan and three pace bowlers: Afridi, Amir and Rauf.

That means that whoever you pick on this market should at least give you a good run for your money by bowling their full allocation of overs. You could probably make a case for any of the five, including recent 13/5 winner for us, Afridi. In his case, it’s not a hard case to make: he’s their best bowler.

But I think the pace of Rauf can trump the guile and tricks of Afridi. The USA probably won’t ever have faced anyone as quick as Rauf and in addition to that, he’ll bowl at the death and could be up against lower-order batsmen more interested in keeping their teeth and toes intact, than on scoring late boundaries. He took five wickets in those two matches against England so comes here in good shape and is a perfectly good bet at 100/30.

USA Top Batsman

The narrative has so far been that USA’s batsmen will face one of their toughest challenges to date against a strong Pakistan line-up with pace and tricks they won’t have seen before.

But before jumping onto that man Jones at a big-looking 5/1, it’s worth pointing out that 94 was his highest-ever score in T20 cricket and one of just four half-centuries in 50 knocks in the shortest format.

A better bet is on a man who has seen it all before at this level having played 30-odd T20Is for New Zealand before switching allegiances, to go with spells in the IPL, Big Bash and other top franchise competitions. Now 34, Corey Anderson has 14 fifties to his name in T20 cricket and a wealth of experience to count on. It’s also a bonus that batting at five, he’ll be somewhat ‘sheltered’ from Rauf and Afridi at the top of the innings. 5/1 is a fair price.

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...