CRICKET WORLD CUP: Old Trafford plays host to the first semi-final of the Cricket World Cup on Tuesday. It’s INDIA v NEW ZEALAND, what’s the best bet on BETDAQ?
After five weeks of twists and turns the Group Stages of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 are over and it’s now time for the Semi-Finals. India and New Zealand square off in the first of the Semi-Finals at Old Trafford today. It will come as no surprise that India are the favourites after finishing top of the Group Stages. They are priced at 1.33 on the Betdaq Exchange. New Zealand (who finished 4th) are priced at 3.5. This will also be the first meeting between the sides at the World Cup after their previous meeting on June 13th was abandoned.
India had the near perfect Group Stage, winning seven of the eight games they played. There only loss was to England. Rohit Sharma has been outstanding to date and is the highest run scorer at the World Cup with 647 runs. He has also hit five centuries from his eight innings. Sharma isn’t the only India player in good form with the bat. Virat Kolhi (441 runs) and KL Rahul (359 runs) are also enjoying good World Cups. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami are leading the way for India’s bowling attack. Bumrah has claimed seventeen wickets and Shami has fourteen wickets to date. India are ticking a lot of boxes at the moment.
New Zealand were well beaten by England in their last Group Stage game but still qualified for the Semi-Final as Pakistan didn’t get the required NRR in their victory over Bangladesh. In truth they were never in any danger of not making the Knockout stages entering the last series of games. Kane Williamson has been their stand out man with the bat. He has 481 runs to his name. In some ways he is carrying the New Zealand batting attack as Ross Taylor is their next highest runs scorer with 261 runs. Players like Taylor, Jimmy Neesham and Martin Guphill are all going to need to reach 50+ runs if New Zealand are to reach Sunday’s decider.
Another worry for New Zealand is they haven’t beaten any of the other Semi-Finalists, losing to both Australia and England. This will only add to the views of the punters who believe they are the weakest of the four remaining teams. If they can bat first and give India a big target to chase down, then it definitely becomes a 50/50 game. Lockie Ferguson is the main man they will look towards to claim wickets. Any morning rain is forecast to clear and this should leave the stage set for an entertaining game and one I fancy India to come out on top.
Verdict: India
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