THE EDGE: The Edge previews the Cricket World Cup clash between AFGHANISTAN v SRI LANKA with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
Afghanistan v Sri Lanka
MATCH OVERVIEW:
A new week begins at the Cricket World Cup on BETDAQ Betting Exchange! We’ve had a lot of moaning on social media about this World Cup, but you have to say we’ve watched some excellent cricket over the last few years. Some ODI’s can be very boring, perhaps that’s why the format is indeed dying at the moment, but when you get a thriller it’s incredible. Australia v New Zealand was quite the game, and then we had another win for the Netherlands over Bangladesh at the weekend too – that’s the first time they have won twice at a World Cup! The smaller sides are doing much better than expected, even if they won’t trouble the Semi-Final places.
Afghanistan and Sri Lanka start the week for us, and these two have already produced surprise wins over England. The Afghanistan win was certainly a massive shock, and by the time Sri Lanka beat England last week they were already looking punch drunk at this World Cup. While this is likely a game just for pride, Sri Lanka could ask a few questions with a win. It would put them two points behind New Zealand and Australia having played the same number of games. It’s still very unlikely they break into that top four, but at least they can say they’ve given themselves a chance.
As things stands given all the latest results, I would suggest the only side who can upset the current top four is Sri Lanka. Obviously they have to win every game from here. To be fair, even to be in this position is a good result for Sri Lanka. They were wrote off coming into the tournament, and even more so after losing their first three games. A win over England last week has given them a very, very small chance – now they must continue winning.
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
We move to Pune on Monday, and this will be the second game here. India beat Bangladesh a couple of weeks ago – they kept Bangladesh down to 256/8 and chased it with 51 balls remaining. Pune is usually a chasing ground in the IPL but as England found out in Mumbai against South Africa, playing ODI cricket in the day time in India is very different. We usually get a dew here in the IPL, but I would suggest it’s a tricky decision what to do at the toss. This World Cup has been a bat first and go big tournament so far. I would lean towards chasing here. In 2021, England played three ODI’s here on their tour and all three were very high scoring – 317/5 (won), 336/6 (chased) and 329 (won) all out were the first inning scores.
RECOMMENDED BET:
We should have a very interesting market here. You wouldn’t be surprised to see this one flip-flop in-running a few times. Sri Lanka are the favourites at around 1.6 at the time of writing. Conditions in Pune should suit them, but I feel the 1.6 is a little short here. With Afghanistan it always seems like it’s boom-or-bust. This World Cup has been a classic example – hammered by Bangladesh, India and New Zealand but then they’ve beaten England and Pakistan. Sri Lanka’s bowling is definitely a worry in good batting conditions, and I just expect a closer game than the odds suggest here. A small bet on Afghanistan looks like a nice position.
The Edge Says:
One point win Afghanistan to beat Sri Lanka at 2.52 with Betdaq Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/AfgSri
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
As I mentioned above, you wouldn’t be surprised to see the sides flip-flop as favourites a few times throughout this game. I feel we might see the most market movement when Afghanistan bat – they can go well against this Sri Lankan attack in my opinion. It is a tricky decision what to do at the toss. In IPL cricket you chase here, but we know that hasn’t worked out so far at this World Cup. I’d expect good scoring conditions though, and I would generally look to get trades on either batting side rather than supporting the bowlers.
