We are approaching the business end of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup and Thursday night will see India face off against the West Indies from 7.30pm (AEST). It’s do or die for the West Indies, who will likely need to win all three of their remaining round robin fixtures to give themselves a chance at qualifying.
We have a full preview and betting tips for the Thursday night clash between India and the West Indies below!
India vs West Indies Betting Tips
India
The Indians are yet to put a foot wrong in the World Cup so far. Through 5 games they have a 4-0-1 record after their game against New Zealand was abandoned due to rain. They have secured impressive wins over South Africa, Australia and Pakistan to open their campaign and will start as heavy favourites over the West Indies on Thursday night.
While other teams have struggled to extract much spin out of the English wickets, the Indian spin attack has looked deadly in their opening five games. Leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has picked up eight wickets at a healthy average of 25.25 and has been backed up well by paceman Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who have taken 12 wickets between them.
The batting for India has been heavily reliant on Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, as we expected it to be. However, the two superstars have stood up to the challenge. They have plundered 566 runs between them at a combined average of 177.66 through four innings each and don’t’ show any signs of slowing down.
With four games still to play for India, they can all but lock up a semi-final berth with a win against the West Indies on Thursday night.
West Indies
The West Indies turned a few heads when they kicked off their World Cup campaign with a dominant win over Pakistan on night two of the tournament. Since then, however, they have been extremely underwhelming. They currently sit 8th on the round robin table with a 1-4-1 record through six games and will likely need to win all three of their remaining games just to give themselves a chance at qualifying for the semi-finals.
The West Indies pacemen have done the bulk of the work on the bowling front, led by left-armer Sheldon Cottrell, who has picked up 9 wickets in their six games. The health of Andre Russel throughout the tournament has been a massive blow. The all-rounder has had limited impact with the ball and the West Indies have really missed his ability to take wickets and limit runs at the death.
While they have had their troubles with the ball, it’s their performances with the bat that have really hurt them through the tournament so far. After making 421 in their final practice match against New Zealand, the West Indies have surpassed the 300 mark in just one of their six games, which came in a loss to Bangladesh. Chris Gayle tops their run-scorers list with just 194 runs.
Prediction
Barring a big Chris Gayle hundred, we think there is little hope for the West Indies to win this match. India have cruised past the 300 run mark in two of the three games where they have batted first and if they get close to that on the back of a good performance from Kohli or Sharma, it will be too much for the West Indies to chase down.
Not much value in the Indians here at just $1.25 but it could be a decent anchor leg for your weekend multi. Like we said, the only way the West Indies win is on the back of a monster Chris Gayle innings so a little saver on him at $11 for man of the match could be a good bet.
Chris Gayle MOTM Saver $11
Jasprit Bumrah is the master of taking wickets early in the innings and the West Indies have been just as good at losing them. Their five opening partnerships so far in this tournament read 36, 7, 4, 6 and 3. Back the Indian paceman to get 2+ wickets here.
Bumrah OVER 39.5 points
$1.88
