THE EDGE: The Edge previews the Cricket World Cup Final on Sunday between INDIA v AUSTRALIA with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
India v Australia
MATCH OVERVIEW:
After two months of incredible cricket, the World Cup Final arrives on BETDAQ Betting Exchange this Sunday as hosts India take on Australia. It’s felt at times that India have had their name on the trophy for weeks already, but standing in their way are a superb Aussie side who bring massive momentum into the Final. I know South Africa were very impressive in the group stage, but we really do have the two best sides in the Final. India will come into the game as the heavy favourites, they are currently trading 1.47 at the time of writing, but this Australian side have basically ticked every box asked for them in 2023. They’ve won a Test in India, won the World Test Championship, retained the Ashes in England and now they are in the ODI World Cup Final.
Although this is a very strong and impressive Australian side, India have looked a league apart in this World Cup. I said before my Semi-Final preview that they haven’t had a poor performance yet; they still haven’t as they blew New Zealand away in the Semi-Final. Australia had to work much harder in their Semi-Final against South Africa, and you could say that Australia are more battle hardened coming into this Final but the reality is nobody has been good enough to push India to their limit yet.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a World Cup in India without drama. We had a late pitch change in the build-up to the Semi-Final between India and New Zealand. You would think a Semi-Final should always be played on a fresh pitch; it wasn’t and apparently the ICC were late to know. It played superbly, but that wasn’t the point. It’s an interesting sub-plot coming into the biggest game of cricket this year. India do have home conditions, but this is an ICC tournament after all. It will be fascinating to see if India get spinning conditions; they’ve already hammered Australia in the group stage with similar conditions. That is something that might cause drama, but in terms of the sides both sets of players couldn’t be in a better position. It’s hard to fault either side, and we could have a Final for the ages.
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
The world’s biggest cricket stadium is a fitting place for the Final. It should be a fantastic occasion at Ahmedabad, and we have a fascinating situation too. We haven’t had a huge volume of cricket here over the past years because it was undergoing renovation. What we have had is Test cricket where the ball turns square and T20 cricket where 200+ has been a par score. We’ve kind of had an in-between wicket here; scores haven’t been too high. And as I highlighted above, it really is fascinating to see what kind of conditions we’ll see here. The home side definitely want spinning conditions; I would suggest the ICC would want a decent wicket that’s good for batting. The first inning scores here have been; 282/9 (chased), 191 all out (chased), 286 all out (won) and 244 all out (chased). You’d lean towards bowling first; but then you have to chase in the pressure of a Final.
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India are the overwhelming favourites, and it’s easy to see why. They have barely been tested really – the closest was New Zealand, but even then they chased with four wickets and 12 balls to spare. Australia lost their opening two games of the tournament, the first being against India, but since then they have been perfect. Of course they have come through difficult moments, but they’ve got the job done. Their record in knock out cricket speaks for itself and to be honest all the pressure is on India here. India were able to bowl Australia out for 199 in the group stage, and Australia simple have to do better with the bat to win here – you’d have to say they have to really perform superbly with the bat to put this Indian bowling line-up under pressure. India have the best bowling in the tournament, and in their home conditions too; the big question is how much over their usually performance level do Australia have to be to win? I’m keeping stakes relatively low, but it’s hard to see past this Indian side who have been fantastic in all departments.
The Edge Says:
|Two points win India to beat Australia at 1.47 with Betdaq Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/CWCFin
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
There’s going to be huge interest in this Final, and that will bring huge amount of liquidity too. We should have a fascinating market. I wouldn’t suggest there’s an area you’d want to take on either side. They have been the best two sides, perform well under pressure and their batting and bowling has been good. Possibly the area to target is the Aussie middle order against spin, if we do get a slow and low wicket. How the wicket plays will go a huge way to framing your in-running trading here. India have been really attacking with the bat, and I would support them if they batted first. If we saw spin, then you’d want to take on the Aussies because we could easily see the same result as we did in the group stage. Virat Kohli has had a superb tournament, while Steven Smith has been very quiet – one wonders will that stay the same for the Final, or could Smith finally come to the party on the biggest stage of them all.
