The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup is off and running after a fantastic first weekend of matchups. The round robin stage continues this week with some monster matchups including England taking on Pakistan on Monday night, South Africa facing India on Wednesday night and the Aussies playing their second match of the tournament as they clash with the West Indies on Thursday.
We’ll be focusing on the clash between South Africa and India for today’s betting tips, which gets underway at 7.30pm on Wednesday night.
ICC World Cup South Africa vs India Betting Tips
India will be playing their first match of the ICC Cricket World Cup on Wednesday night as they face off against South Africa. It will be the third match for the Proteas and they’ll be desperate for a win after back to back losses to England and Bangladesh.
India
India have had the advantage of sitting back throughout the first week of the ICC Cricket World Cup and scouting the nine opposing teams through their opening games. They’ll be looking to hand South Africa their third straight loss on Wednesday night and get their own round robin stage off to a hot start.
Led by fearless skipper Virat Kohli, the Indians come into the tournament as one of the hot favourites and the No.2 ranked ODI team in the world. Their batting line-up is top heavy with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan shouldering the majority of the load.
The bowling attack is led by arguably the best paceman in the world at the moment, Jasprit Bumrah. Alongside Bumrah will be a fairly spin heavy attack. The Indians boast two world class spinners in Yuzvendra Chahal and Kulddep Yadav, who are both ranked in the top 10 ODI bowlers in the world. The Indians will also have Ravindra Jadeja as their bowling all-rounder, likely batting at No.7 and providing quality overs.
Virat Kohli IND high bat
$2.88
South Africa
The South Africans were disappointing in the opening game of the World Cup against England. After restricting the home nation to a manageable 311, the Proteas could only muster 207 in reply, led by 68 from opening batsman Quinton de Cock.
The Proteas weren’t much better in their second match of the tournament after they allowed another score of 300+ in a loss to Bangladesh. Their batting line-up was more impressive in this game as they compiled 309 off their 50 overs, however, they still fell 21 runs short.
South Africa will be eagerly awaiting the return of star players Dale Steyn and Hashim Amla from injury, both of whom missed the game against Bangladesh but are odds on to return for the clash on Wednesday night.
de Cock UNDER 0.5 sixes
$1.75
Prediction
Tough match to call without fully knowing the status of both Amla and Steyn heading into the clash. The Indians have had ample time to study South Africa over their opening two games and should come into this match fired up, looking to get their campaign off to a solid start.
One concern I do have for the Indians is the depth of their batting line-up. With Jadeja likely to bat at No.7, it leaves the top six very vulnerable, especially given the hit and miss nature of some of their top order, particularly Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul. If South Africa can make early inroads and pick up two wickets in the first 10 overs, it leaves a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of M.S. Dhoni and co.
The advantage of playing Jadeja at No.7 is that is gives India one of the strongest bowling attacks at the tournament. Unlike other nations, they won’t have to find 10 overs from part time bowlers, as they will boast five world class bowlers in the line-up regardless of which combination they go with. Hard to bet against that.
