Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh Betting Winner Prediction

Recommended Bet: Back Bangladesh to win @ 2.54 with Pure Win.

If you were to back the side chasing at this year’s Asia Cup every time there was a match at Dubai, you’d definitely end up in profit. Let’s repeat that: definitely.

But then again, there’s surely more to betting than adopting a one-size-fits-all strategy and ignoring all the other factors.

For example, would you honestly want to be backing Hong Kong (even at huge odds of 25.0) if they were chasing against India in Wednesday’s match? No, probably not.

And the point here is that Sri Lanka are far too short at odds of 1.53. Yes, they have a strong head-to-head record against Bangladesh but that’s just about the only thing going for them.

If anything, they were far more soundly beaten by Afghanistan than Bangladesh were.

At least the Tigers put up a decent fight defending their total and on another day could well have won. Sri Lanka looked like losing pretty much from the first few overs.

There’s not much to choose between them in terms of players, either. Both have two or three really top-class players with the others either out of form or not that great to begin with.

So if we back Bangladesh at 2.54, we’ll have them at great odds should they get to chase.

And even if they don’t chase, they’re a far better bet than the Lankans at a short price. It’s an easy choice.

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Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh Odds for Hot Bet

Recommended Bet: Back Shakib Al-Hasan to be Bangladesh’s Top Bowler @ 4.33 with Betway

The thing about Shakib is that he rarely disappoints.

He’ll either make a serious contribution with the bat, or he’ll do it with the ball. Very often both.

In the last match, it was the middle one: getting out to a good delivery for just 11 but putting in a huge performance with the ball, taking 1-13 from his four overs. How the Tigers wish he could bowl more than four overs. Or that they had another Shakib.

He was our tip at 5.2 to be their top bowler and to say we were unlucky not to win is putting it mildly.

He took one wicket, as did M. Hossain and M. Saifuddin.

Now, as per Betway market rules, if two or more players take the same number of wickets, it goes down to the number of runs conceded.

Shakib conceded 13, Hossain just 12. See why we were unlucky?

But it’s worth persisting with the man who is their best bowler to get it right this time. Shakib it is.

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Sri Lanka’s Recent Form

Sri Lanka put in a truly awful performance in the opening match of the Asia Cup against Afghanistan, doing just about everything wrong.

They posted just 105 batting first with only Bhanuka Rajapaksa playing an innings of any substance, scoring 38 off 289.

It’s a good thing for us that he did because we had him at odds of 5.5 to be their top scorer, so that was a good win for us.

With the ball they were unable to put any pressure on Afghanistan, who cruised to a big win, losing just two wickets and getting home with plenty of balls to spare.

There can’t be too many excuses because it’s not like they’re missing any important players.

Instead, they’re just going through a period where they’re low on talent and will have days where the few class players have a bad game and they lose badly.

Still. Win this and they’re through to the next round anyway.

Bangladesh’s Recent Form

They’ll look back at their game against Afghanistan as a case of what might have been.

Had they scored another 15 runs, they may well have won. Had they taken just one more wicket in the final overs, they may have won.

Despite posting just 127, at one stage when defending, they were favourites as Afghanistan lost wickets and fell behind the run rate before a flurry of sixes downed Bangladesh and in the end it wasn’t quite as tight as it could have been.

The big problem was a failure by the top order to build a platform.

Their two big guns- Shakib Al-Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim- were out for 11 and 1- and they never recovered from that.

With the ball, they put in a spirited effort with Shakib (1-13) brilliant as usual but he bowled his four overs too early in a bid to put their opponents under pressure and the other bowlers were more expensive.

There’s no quick fix other than just to hope they can bat better next time.

Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh Head-to-Head

The men in blue are streets ahead in the Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh head-to-head between these two and are currently 8-4 up.

The last time they played was at last year’s World Cup, with Sri Lanka nailing a tough chase of 172.

Unsurprisingly, that man Shakib is the highest wicket-taker in matches between the two over the years with 12 wickets.

Venue & Conditions

We’re in Dubai once again.

What do we know about this ground? Plenty.

Two of the last three IPLs were held here, as was last year’s World Cup.

We know that posting anything above 155 is going to be very competitive, though getting there is easier said than done. A par score is around the 140 mark.

But more important than that is the toss bias: how much of an advantage it is to bat first or second at a particular ground?

Well, there’s a huge toss bias and it’s for the chaser. It’s quickly becoming the case that winning the toss and chasing in Dubai is about 75% of the battle won before a ball is bowled.

Bangladesh vs Afghanistan Betting Prediction 1

Recommended Bet: Back Rohit Sharma to be India’s Top Batsman @ 3.75 with Betway

The main attraction of our Asia Cup previews, or all match previews for that matter, is our tip on the winner market.

But there’s no point providing one here.

If Hong Kong were to win this, it would be arguably the biggest upset ever in international cricket.

Proof of that is that those looking for online betting for India to win will only be getting odds of 1.01. This is because betting sites know that even at those odds, they’d be throwing money away.

So instead, we’ll provide two tips (plus the usual toss winner one) outside the winner market.

If India have to chase, they could be chasing as little as 80-90 runs which means the two openers could easily just do the job by themselves without anyone else having a chance.

And if they bat first, again, the two openers could hang around for 15-16 overs meaning no other player could contend for top batsman.

So looking at India’s two openers, KL Rahul is looking very rusty indeed and though Rohit Sharma wasn’t too much better on Sunday, at least he’s been playing a fair bit recently.

He’s also at bigger odds at 3.75 than Rahul at 3.25 so that settles it for us.

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India vs Hong Kong Odds for Hot Bet

Recommended Bet: Back Ehsan Khan to be Hong Kong Top Bowler @ 4.0 with Betway.

There’s a possibility that India could bat 20 overs without losing a wicket should they bat first. Unlikely, but possible.

Or that if they’re chasing 80-90, they get there without losing a wicket.

But if they do get one, that man Ehsan Khan is their best chance of getting one (or two).

He has good experience with 31 T20Is (a lot by the standards of a Hong Kong player), has a fine record with 39 wickets in those games and bowled extremely well in the recent pre-qualifying tournament.

More than enough reasons to go with him for Hong Kong’s top bowler at a very decent price of 4.0.

India’s Recent Form

The good news is that they beat Pakistan.

The extent of the rivalry between the two isn’t quite as intense on the field as it is among fans but it’s still the game that India most want to win.

Yes, they got over the line mostly thanks to an excellent all-round performance from man of the match Hardik Pandya but there’s plenty of room for improvement.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli played scratchy innings where they could never find their rhythm and never looked at ease; KL Rahul was out first ball, perhaps not that surprising given how little cricket he’s played over the past few months as a result of injury.

So it was left to Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja to get them home with the bat, thanks to some aggressive hitting in the final few overs.

Earlier Pandya had also starred with the ball (3-25) though Bhuvi Kumar was the one who was their top bowler with four wickets (4-26).

Curiously, they left out Rishabh Pant in favour of Dinesh Karthik and preferred Sky Yadav to Deepak Hooda.

But given they won, they’re likely to stick with the same team here again.

Hong Kong’s Recent Form

Hong Kong are here courtesy of topping the Group in the 2022 Asia Cup qualifying tournament.

They beat each of Kuwait, the UAE and Singapore to have a perfect 100% record so thoroughly deserve to be here.

Interestingly, the UAE, who they beat by chasing 148, are ranked 12th in the ICC T20I rankings while they’re down in 23rd.

So it shows you what a good performance that was.

Pakistan-born Yasim Murtaza, who only recently became eligible to play for Hong Kong, was their star man with the bat, scoring 130 runs across those three games. He was the top scorer in the pre-qualifying tournament.

Veteran Ahsan Khan was their go-to man with the ball, his off-spin taking nine wickets in three games; he was the top bowler of the tournament.

They’ll be well aware that this match is surely the toughest any of them will ever have played.

But they’ll be extremely proud just to be here, a big achievement in itself.

India vs Hong Kong Head-to-Head

There’s not much to speak of regarding the India vs Hong Kong head-to-head because they’ve never played each other in the T20 format.

They did however play against each other in the Asia Cup Back in 2008 in the ODI format with India posting 374 and bowling Hong Kong out for just 118.

Rohit Sharma is the only survivor from that match in terms of those who are likely to play in this one.

With just about everyone else scoring big runs around him, he was run out for just 11.

Venue & Conditions

We’re at Dubai again and what we’ve learned from the first two matches here is that batting is not easy at all.

Yes, it’s easier to score runs chasing because of the dew factor in the second half of the match but not that much easier.

Neither Sri Lanka nor Pakistan managed to get to 150 batting first (both lost) so you’d think that Hong Kong would probably do extremely well to get to 100 here, should they bat first.

So consider that when betting on the first innings runs line.

As for India, they’d probably be looking at around 180 if they bat first because their batting is strong and Hong Kong’s bowling shouldn’t be too challenging for them.

And if they get close to that 180, their margin of victory could be pretty big.

Bangladesh vs Afghanistan Betting Winner Prediction

Recommended Bet: Back Afghanistan to win @ 2.06 with Pure Win.

Bangladesh are 1.77 with Afghanistan at 2.06 on Pure Win. Does that seem right? Maybe not.

The Tigers are admittedly one place above Afghanistan in the ICC T20I rankings but there’s not much in it, while as we explain in the head-to-head section below, it’s Rashid Khan and co who are 5-3 ahead over the years.

We can also point to the fact that Mohammad Nabi’s men are fresh from an excellent win over Sri Lanka, so will feel confident and happy with the gameplan that saw them win so convincingly.

We know that games played in Dubai heavily favour the chaser but that isn’t so much the case here in Sharjah, where matches at the World Cup last year suggested there wasn’t any big advantage to doing one (batting first) or the other (fielding first).

So in the absence of a toss bias that could ruin our pre-match analysis, it makes sense to go with the outsiders.

Not just because they’ll be feeling great from that win on Saturday and look to be well-matched in terms of the quality of the players, but also because they’re just that: the outsiders, so available at considerably bigger odds.

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Bangladesh vs Afghanistan Odds for Hot Bet

Recommended Bet: Back Shakib Al-Hasan to be Bangladesh’s Top Bowler @ 5.2 with Betway.

Betting sites don’t often make ‘mistakes’ but we think we may have spotted one here.

By all means, read our top bowler guide in depth but what we always look for in a bowler is a) a strong career record including a good strike rate b) a player who always bowls four overs c) a player whose bowling suits the conditions d) a bowler who bowls at the death if possible and e) is available at good odds.

The only one of those boxes that the great Shakib Al-Hasan doesn’t tick is that he doesn’t bowl at the death.

But he’s their class act and always has been. And at odds of 5.2, we have to back him to take the most wickets for Bangladesh on the day.

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Bangladesh Recent Form

Bangladesh are down in ninth on the ICC T20I rankings, proof that they’re not going through a particularly good period in this format.

They’ve lost four of their last five, including two out of three against Zimbabwe last month, a real low point for them. Before that, they lost two in a row against the West Indies.

So they come into this tournament in poor form, which is a shame for them because they have a strong record in this competition, making the final in three of the last four editions.

The big plus point for them is that Shakib Al-Hasan is available and committed.

He’s not just their best player, he’s their best-ever player and because he’s an all-rounder, they can look forward to him making a huge impact with both bat and ball.

But he’s also the skipper so you could argue he has a bit too much on his plate here.

Mahmadullah, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mustafizur Rahman are the experienced heads, while Litton Das has found some form at the top of the order over the last year or so.

Tamim Iqbal, a prolific opener, has decided not to play T20Is anymore and they’ll miss him badly.

Afghanistan Recent Form

Afghanistan came into this tournament on the back of a surprise series defeat to Ireland a couple of weeks ago but all that has been forgotten after a near-flawless performance in beating Sri Lanka on Saturday.

They did everything right. They took early wickets, kept on taking them, were economical and ended up restricting Sri Lanka to just 106.

And with the bat, they were aggressive from the start which meant they were never in any danger of being under pressure at the end.

Interestingly, it wasn’t Rashid Khan doing all the damage this time.

He was economical, as per usual, but didn’t take any of the 10 wickets.

Instead, it was Fazlhaaq Farooqi who took three wickets for just 11 runs and rightfully got the man of the match award.

With the bat Hazratullah Zazai (37 off 28) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (40 off 28) pretty much finished off the job.

They couldn’t have asked for a better start and will already be thinking of a place in the Super Four stage, particularly because they have an excellent net run rate now.

Bangladesh vs Afghanistan Head-to-Head

Afghanistan are 5-3 up in this fixture, mostly on the back of winning a series 3-0 (in India) back in 2018.

But that aside, things have been pretty tight.

The last four matches have seen a 2-2 split. They shared a Series 1-1 in March this year.

Venue & Conditions

This is the first match of the tournament that will be played at Sharjah after the first two were at Dubai.

This is one of the toughest grounds to call in terms of what a par score is.

At the last World Cup, first innings scores were all over the place but what we do know is that like with all grounds in the UAE, batting second is something of an advantage but not nearly as much as it is in Dubai.

India vs Pakistan Betting Winner Prediction

Recommended Bet: Back Pakistan to win @ 2.92 with Pure Win.

This match is a perfect example of betting value. The question with betting should never be: who’s more likely to win the match? What it should be is: are either of the teams available at bigger odds than what they should be?

If the answer is ‘no’ then just don’t bet it. If the answer is ‘yes’, then do bet. And Pakistan must surely be considered value at 2.92 to win this match.

That’s an implied probability of 34.2%. If they played the match 100 times, would Pakistan win it more than 34 times? Probably.

For starters, if Pakistan win the toss and bat second (see venue and conditions section) they have at least a 50% chance of winning, probably more.

It’s also worth remembering Pakistan beat them at the World Cup, although admittedly India are 7-2 up on the head-to-head.

And if Pakistan are definitely missing star bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi and maybe Mohammad Wasim as well then India are also missing Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel, so that evens things out.

All in all, the odds should be much closer so we have to go with Pakistan.

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India vs Pakistan Odds for Hot Bet

Recommended Bet: Back Babar Azam to score a 50 @ 3.0 with Betway.

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam is just about the most consistent T20 player in the world. And if you want proof of that, just look at the ICC T20I rankings: he’s ranked number 1.

He averages 45 in T20I cricket and has 26 fifties in 74 matches to go with a solitary century and scored an excellent unbeaten 68 against India at the last World Cup, evidence he can score big runs against India.

He doesn’t take too many risks, which in this case, is a good thing. That’s because we don’t need him to score quickly for the sake of this bet, we just need him to get to 50.

At odds of 3.0 at the best betting sites in India, he should go pretty close.

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India Recent Form

Following their disappointment at last year’s World Cup, where back-to-back losses against Pakistan and New Zealand saw them eliminated in the Group Stages, they’ve been excellent.

They’ve won just about every Series they played since the World Cup, including beating England in England and absolutely thrashing the West Indies in the Caribbean.

During that period they’ve played around 30 different players so have certainly experimented a lot in order to find their best XI.

But right now, they’re quite far away from knowing who their best XI is. For starters, the debate about whether Virat Kohli and whether he should be in the team rages on.

The smart money is on him playing here in the Asia Cup. If he plays well, he plays at the World

Cup. If he doesn’t, that might be it for him in terms of T20Is for India.

They’re missing Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel through injury, while Mohammad Shami was left out through choice.

The toughest choice is probably between Deepak Hooda or Dinesh Karthik at number seven.

They’re likely to pick two spinners from the four in the squad with Ravindra Jadeja and Yuzvendra Chahal likely to get the nod ahead of Ravi Ashwin and Ravi Bishnoi.

Pakistan Recent Form

Pakistan have been just about the best side in the world over the past twelve months in T20Is, winning 11 out of 13 matches played.

One of the two they didn’t win was the semi-final of the 2021 World Cup, somewhat unlucky to go down to eventual champions Australia, who were fortunate to chase in conditions perfect for chasing and benefited from a freak innings from Mathew Wade.

Their only other defeat was also against Australia, in April this year, in Lahore.They failed to defend 163.

Other than that, they won all their Group matches at the World Cup before that semi-final, beat Bangladesh 3-0 away and the West Indies 4-0 at home.

Pakistan are after all, our tip to win the Asia Cup. 

But they’ll have to do it without their best bowler in Shaheen Shah Afridi, who is out injured.

And they may also have to go to battle here without fellow fast bowler Mohammd Wasim, as well.

He has a back complaint and they may leave him out for this game and save him for later in the tournament.

India vs Pakistan Head-to-Head

The men in blue are way ahead in the India vs Pakistan head-to-head, winning seven out of the nine matches between them.

But crucially, Pakistan won the one that really mattered at last year’s World Cup and will have got great confidence from that given the magnitude of the occasion.

Venue & Conditions

The Dubai International Cricket Stadium hasn’t been used since last year’s World Cup.

Remarkably, the last four matches at the T20 World Cup all saw scores of between 172 and 176 being posted by the team batting first, so the par score is around the 175 mark.

The Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan match on Saturday should give us a good idea of how the wicket is playing but here’s what we do know: chasing is always an advantage here because of the dew factor so the side batting second will always be in pole position to win the game.

Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan Betting Winner Prediction

Recommended Bet: Back Sri Lanka to win @ 1.84 with 10CRIC

On the match winner market, following the trend at Dubai for sides chasing going to win the game, perhaps the smartest strategy here is to wait for the toss and back whichever side bats second.

That means taking advantage of the dew in the second innings as explained in the ‘venue and conditions’ section below.

But if you want to bet before the match starts and with the odds at the best betting sites in India quite tight, Sri Lanka are the call. 

They have far more experience of being at major competitions, beat Afghanistan in the only match they played against them (albeit back in 2016) and despite not having the greatest of squads compared to yesteryear, it’s still a little stronger than what their opponents have.

Afghanistan will as ever be relying on Rashid Khan to make the difference but in Hasaranga, Sri Lanka have a spinner in the same category as Khan, so that evens things out.

The key difference could well be in their middle-order where Sri Lanka have more experience and bat deeper.

Sri Lanka it is.

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Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan Odds for Hot Bet

Recommended Bet: Back Bhanuka Rajapaksa to be Sri Lanka Top Batsman @ 5.5 with Betway

In different circumstances, Bhanuka Rajapaksa wouldn’t even have been here.

He retired from international cricket last year only to be convinced to return to the national side and has often failed fitness tests on account of being overweight.

But he’s here all right and will be keen to make it count.

We saw glimpses of what he can do at last year’s World Cup and he also played some good cameos for the Punjab Kings in the IPL earlier this year.

It’s not for nothing that he was the only Sri Lankan batsman who featured in this year’s IPL.

The one negative is that he isn’t an opener, a big advantage as we know from our top batsman betting guide. 

But that aside, he ticks most of the other boxes, including being available at very decent odds.

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Sri Lanka Recent Form

Sri Lanka have only played six T20Is in 2022 and lost five of them: three to India in India and two against Australia, this time at home.

Their solitary win was in Pallekele in June, chasing Australia’s 177 thanks to a superb knock in the chase by skipper Dasun Shanaka (54 off 25), Sri Lanka getting home with just one ball to spare.

They have an excellent record in the Asia Cup but that was with far better players than the ones they have now.

Their best chance is to hope the UAE pitches turn so they can exploit the skills of their spinners, with key man Hasaranga de Silva and the reliable Dhananjaya de Silva capable of keeping the runs down.

With the bat, Bhanuka Rajapaksa can be a game-changer because of how quickly he scores, while Charith Asalanka will try to hold the innings together.

Veteran Dinesh Chandimal was something of a surprise inclusion in the squad but they’ll be without the injured Dushmantha Chameera and he’s a big loss.

Afghanistan Recent Form

2022 has been something of a mixed bag for Afghanistan in T20I cricket.

A 1-1 drawn series in Bangladesh was a decent outcome and they made light work of a Series in Zimbabwe, beating the hosts 3-0.

But they went into the recent Series in Ireland as favourites and went down in the decider, to end up losing it 3-2.

Their record in this competition isn’t great with just three wins in nine matches at the Asia Cup but they arguably have a better team now than in previous editions.

As ever, all eyes on Rashid Khan.

It will be interesting to see if in addition to being their star bowler, they promote him up the order occasionally when it comes to batting.

Mohammad Nabi leads the side while the consistent Mujeeb Ur Rahman and explosive opener Hazratullah Zazai are others to watch.

Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan Head-to-Head

There’s not much to look at in the Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan head-to-head because remarkably, they’ve only ever played each other once in this format.

That was back at the 2016 World Cup, Afghanistan posting 153 and Sri Lanka chasing it pretty easily, meaning they’re 1-0 ahead in matches between them.

Dinesh Chandimal, Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi all played in that match.

Venue & Conditions

The Dubai International Cricket Stadium hasn’t been used since last year’s World Cup.

Remarkably, the last four matches at the T20 World Cup all saw scores of between 172 and 176 being posted by the team batting first, so the par score is around the 175 mark.

However, that may well not be enough.

With dew playing its part in the second innings and making it harder for bowlers to grip the ball, it’s definitely a huge advantage to chase here.

In fact, at the World Cup, the vast majority of games in Dubai were won by the chasing side.

Zimbabwe vs India Betting Winner Prediction

What can you do when online betting odds for a team is just 1.04 to win a match? Well, you could consider backing the outsider at massive odds of 9.5 and hope for a miracle.

But it would be just that: a miracle.

India are in a different league in terms of ability to Zimbabwe and the way they won the first match reflects that. As do the odds ahead of this game.

In situations like this, I often look to back the heavy favourite at better odds in Live Betting if they make a poor start.

But in this case, we’d be pretty lucky if India even reach 1.2 in Live Betting.

So we’re going to have to open an exception and not suggest a bet on the winner market at all because there’s no bet or strategy worth pursuing.

Instead, we’ll take a punt on Zimbabwe having the better opening partnership at odds of 3.25.

It only takes one ball for a wicket and this could be their best chance of an upset, of sorts.

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Zimbabwe vs India Odds for Hot Bet

Sikandar Raza stands out like a sore thumb in this Zimbabwean side as we discuss below. He’s the only genuine class act.

Never was that more apparent than when he scored 117 not out and 135 not out against Bangladesh, on both occasions guiding his team to victory, on both occasions being the man-of-the-match.

As it happens, he missed out in the first game, only managing 12. But if one Zimbabwe player is going to get to 50, it’s him.

And odds of 3.8 on him doing so at Pure Win are pretty decent.

Zimbabwe’s Recent Form

Zimbabwe are fresh from an excellent 2-1 series win against Bangladesh last month.

A win over Bangladesh may not sound like much but the Tigers are always very competitive in that format and this is by no means a vintage Zimbabwe side so they deserve plenty of credit for that.

But if beating Bangladesh was possible, taking the step up and being competitive against India is a very different story.

And so it proved on Thursday, with the hosts posting just 189 and being bowled out in 40 overs.

India’s chase was as easy as it gets in ODI cricket, not losing a single wicket.

Put simply, the Zimbabwe team is low on quality. Perhaps only Sikanda Raza would get into other strong ODI sides from the current crop.

India’s Recent Form

Despite chopping and changing the team to manage workloads, India have been excellent in ODI cricket over the past few weeks.

They beat England 2-1 and the West Indies 3-0 and both of those Series were away.

What’s really impressive about them is their strength in depth. The side they fielded against Zimbabwe on Thursday was very different to the one they had in previous recent series.

For example, Deepak Chahar was playing his first international game since February as a result of injury. He ended up man-of-the-match after taking 3-27.

The likes of Chahar, Axar Patel and Shubman Gill (82 not out) are putting serious pressure on the established stars like Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Yuzvendra Chahal and that can only be a good thing for India.

They may well field the same XI again, unless Ruturaj Gaikwad or Rahul Tripathi are brought in with Shikhar Dhawan rested.

Zimbabwe vs India Head-to-Head

Let’s look at the Zimbabwe vs India head-to-head ahead of this match.

In 64 matches between the two, India have won 52 of them with 10 wins for Zimbabwe and two ties thrown in there, as well.

India have now won the last 13 in a row and you’d have to go back to 2010 for the last time Zimbabwe beat them, a match in Harare where the hosts chased just 195 to win.

Venue & conditions

And Harare is where we are again for this one. Just like we were for the first match.

And it’s also where Zimbabwe played all three matches against Bangladesh recently.

All of those were high-scoring and in two of them, Zimbabwe successfully chased big totals.

So the conclusion must be that this is a far better wicket than the small total the hosts posted in the first game suggest. Just look at how easily India got home.

Quite simply, India have a strong bowling attack and Zimbabwe a weak batting line-up.

So if the hosts at first again, they may not get to 230. But if it’s India batting first, you’d think that 330 is perfectly manageable. So bear that in mind on the first innings runs line. 

Birmingham Phoenix vs Northern Superchargers Betting Winner Prediction

Recommended Bet: Back Birmingham Phoenix @ 2.00 in Live Betting with Pure Win.

In terms of online cricket betting, the hosts, the Birmingham Phoenix, are favourites.

And not just that but they’re one of the shorter prices we’ve seen so far in the competition at just 1.63.

It’s probably justified.

The Phoenix have been good, with three wins on the spin and are two from two when playing at home in Birmingham.

The Superchargers haven’t been so good.

They knew they were always going to be without England Test skipper Ben Stokes for much of the campaign.

But they have some other pretty good players, including Faf du Plessis, Harry Brook, Dwayne Bravo, Adil Rashid and the in-form Adam Lyth.

It’s quite surprising they’ve won just one match out of four so far. But they just haven’t clicked.

So with their strong home record, the Phoenix should win again but a good start for the Superchargers isn’t out of the question.

Du Plessis and Lyth can make fast starts with the bat, while the Phoenix have a habit of losing early wickets themselves when they bat first.

You should be able to get odds of 2.0 on the Phoenix at some stage in live betting and when they hit those odds, then is the time to back them.

If you want to know about Pure Win then why not read our Pure Win review, where we analyse all aspects of one of India’s top betting sites.

Birmingham Phoenix vs Northern Superchargers Hot Bet Prediction

Recommended Bet: Back Tom Helm to be Birmingham Phoenix Top Bowler @ 5.0 with Betway

One of the interesting things about betting is how the more famous and more high-profile players are always short odds based exactly on that.

And here we have a case in point.

Legendary county bowler Benny Howell and Aussie international Kane Richardson are 4.5 and 4.0 respectively. Both have five wickets to their name so far and boast excellent economy rates.

But the only man with six wickets so far is Tom Helm.

The uncapped 28 year-old has admittedly been quite expensive but that doesn’t matter here because this market is about who can take the most wickets.

Only Howell has bowled more than his 12 overs, and it’s always important that a bowler gets through as many overs as possible, as we know from our top bowler guide.

And at bigger odds (5.0) than the other two, he’s the one to go with.

If you haven’t already, why not check out our Betway review where we tell you everything you need to know about one of India’s best-loved betting sites.

Venue & conditions

The match before last, the Phoenix posted 176 against the Southern Brave, which proved to be more than enough runs on the board.

Much of that was down to Will Smead scoring 101, one of just two centuries to ever be scored in The Hundred.

That it came off just 50 balls shows what a fantastic knock that was and it was only because of what a freak innings it was that they got to such a big total.

But it was back to what is roughly the par score at Edgbaston the next match.

This time round, the Rockets managed just 145 and they only got a score at all because of some excellent late hitting from Daniel Sams.

In the end it wasn’t enough, the Phoenix getting there with plenty to spare.

So you’d think 150-155 would be a total to be backing on the first innings runs market and if the team batting first gets to that, it should be about 50/50 as to whether the chaser can get home.

There’s about a 25% chance of rain for this game but we should at the very least get a completed match.

Trent Rockets v Oval Invincibles Betting Winner Prediction

Recommended Bet: Back whichever side reaches 2.5 first in Live Betting @ 2.5 with Pure Win.

In terms of online cricket betting, the hosts, the Trent Rockets, are the slight favourites.

You could argue there’s not much to choose between them with both sides having won three of their four matches so far.

You could also argue that the Rockets aren’t quite the same side without Rashid Khan, who is currently on international duty with Afghanistan in Ireland.

Tabraiz Shamsi is an adequate replacement for Khan as a bowler but the Afghan leg spinner also brings something to the table as both a batsman and gun fielder so maybe it’s not quite the same having Shamsi in for Khan after all.

When you consider that the Rockets were better last year and have home advantage here, you’d think that just about makes up for the fact they’re fresh from a poor display against the Phoenix on Monday night. And that they’re missing star man Rashid Khan.

On Monday, only a blistering innings from Daniel Sams, alongside some big-hitting from Lewis Gregory as well, gave their total any respectability. But the Phoenix chased it quite comfortably anyway.

Either way, these are very hard to split. So we won’t.

Instead, we’ll adopt a strategy of backing whichever side reaches 2.5 in live betting first.

Whichever that is, back them at those odds and given we think this is a 50/50 game, you’ll be in with a good chance of winning at considerably better odds than even money.

If you want to know about Pure Win then why not read our Pure Win review, where we analyse all aspects of one of India’s top betting sites.

Trent Rockets vs Oval Invincibles Hot Bet Prediction

Recommended Bet: Back Luke Wood to be Trent Rockets Top Bowler @ 4.33 with Betway

Luke Wood may have to bide his time for an England call-up to their T20 side but he’s giving himself every chance of one in the future with some fine displays in The Hundred.

His economy rate of 8.72 is good rather than brilliant. But more to the point, he’s taken a shine to this tournament and is one of those bowlers who always gives himself a chance of taking wickets by bowling straight, bringing caught, LBW and bowled into the equation.

Admittedly, Daniel Sams has six wickets while Wood is tied with Samit Patel on five.

But Wood has bowled 15 out of 16 possible overs so far so will have every chance and is fresh from a superb display in the last match with 3/17.

So comes into the match in great form.

At 4.33, he’ll give you a good run for your money.

If you haven’t already, why not check out our Betway review where we tell you everything you need to know about one of India’s best-loved betting sites.

Venue & conditions

There’s only been one match at Trent Bridge in Nottingham so far.

Birmingham Phoenix posted a decent-looking 143/7 which was chased pretty comfortably by the Rockets, who got there with three balls to spare.

The Rockets’ Alex Hales hit a super 58 off 41 in the chase while earlier Daniel Sams took three wickets so those are two players who had a good outing the last time they were here and are ones to keep an eye on in the top bowler and batsman markets.

As regards last season, 126, 132, 166 and 135 were the first innings scores in Nottingham, which comes to an average of 139.75.

In three out of those four matches, the winner was the chaser.

So 140 looks bang on the money in terms of a par score batting first but more often than not, that hasn’t been enough, with the chaser being in pole position as long as the team batting first doesn’t get to 150 or more.

Manchester Originals vs Welsh Fire Betting Winner Prediction

Recommended Bet: Back the Southern Brave to win @ 1.73 with Pure Win.

In terms of online cricket betting, the hosts, the Manchester Originals, are the slight favourites.

Given neither side has won in six attempts (both are 0 from 3), you could quite rightly say that they’re as bad as each other.

With almost half of the Group Stages now played, it’s ‘virtually’ impossible for either side to make the Playoffs from here and it will be ‘absolutely’ impossible for the loser of this match; they’ll simply have too much to do.

So with no form whatsoever to talk about for either side, we have to look for clues elsewhere as to who might win.

The first is that it was the Originals who won this match last year, the second is that the Originals are at home at a ground where knowledge of home conditions is particularly important and the third is that it’s the hosts who look a slightly better side on paper.

Not only are Jos Buttler and Andre Russell absolutely world-class players but the likes of Sean Abbott and Phil Salt are very reliable in this format, too.

If you go through the respective XIs, the Originals have not only more consistent players but also more game-changers who can win you the game from nowhere.

That’s enough reasons to side with the Originals.

If you want to know about Pure Win then why not read our Pure Win review, where we analyse all aspects of one of India’s top betting sites.

Manchester Originals vs Welsh Fire Hot Bet Prediction

Recommended Bet: Back Phil Salt to be Manchester Originals Top Batsman @ 4.5 with Betway

“In the Originals’ two matches so far this season, Butter top scored in one with 59 while Phil Salt, the other opener, top scored in the other game with 36. 

As we know from our top batsman guide, a classy player opening the batting are two big boxes ticked and Salt ticks both of them. 

Given Buttler is just 2.8 and Salt is almost twice the odds at 4.5, it makes perfect sense to go with Salt.”

If the above sounds familiar, it’s because that’s what I wrote ahead of the Original’s match against the Trent Rockets at the weekend.

Salt duly scored 70 not out, trumping Buttler’s 41 and handing us a lovely 4.5 winner.

So if Salt has now won 2/3 as Originals’ top batsman, has one more run (107) in total than Buttler (106) for the season, then why is Buttler 3.0 and Salt stil 4.5? A good question as to which the only answer can be that Buttler’s reputation precedes him.

So Salt carries on rating an excellent bet and that’s why we’re backing him again.

If you haven’t already, why not check out our Betway review where we tell you everything you need to know about one of India’s best-loved betting sites.

Venue & conditions

Of the four matches that were played at Old Trafford last season, only two of them resulted in a completed game.

The London Spirit posted 142/6, which the Originals weren’t able to chase, finishing six runs short. And the Originals then chased just 88 against the Phoenix.

There was also a no-result after the Originals got to 98/3 after 71 balls before the rain came and a game that was abandoned without a ball being bowled against the Superchargers.

In terms of this season, the Originals posted a very healthy 161/4 but the Superchargers chased it relatively comfortably, with six balls to spare.

Then at the weekend, the Originals posted a massive 189/3 only for the Trent Rockets to absolutely ace the chase and somehow get there with six balls to spare, which took some doing.

So it’s clearly a good track and going above 165 runs on the first innings runs line looks the way to go.

Even if the side batting first gets a big score, it may not well prove enough as we’ve seen twice this season already.

So it may pay to go with the chaser as an outsider in Live Betting at the halfway stage.