THE EDGE: The Edge previews the T20 World Cup clash between AFGHANISTAN v SOUTH AFRICA with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
Semi-Final 1: Afghanistan v South Africa
MATCH OVERVIEW:
After weeks of drama in America and West Indies, we’ve reached the T20 World Cup Sei-Finals on Betdaq Betting Exchange! It’s fair to say that not many would have predicted this Semi-Final as Afghanistan take on South Africa. Pakistan exited at the group stage, and then Australia crashed out at the Super Eight stage with losses to Afghanistan and India. South Africa have carried the “chokers” tag in major tournament for many years now; it’s a long running cricket joke that won’t go away until they actually get over the line. They must be absolutely delighted with this Semi-Final though – on paper it’s one that they should win.
However, we all know that South Africa don’t do well under pressure. With everyone now expecting them to win, and they come into the game as the red-hot favourites at 1.37. Afghanistan have been playing some superb cricket right throughout this World Cup. They beat New Zealand very early in the group stage which basically put them into the Super Eights and then they were superb against Australia. Obviously the Bangladesh win was a very nervy affair with bad weather around too. Seeing their coach Jonathan Trott tell them to slow down with rain coming and first slip getting a hamstring injury while just standing went viral on X!
South Africa are unbeaten so far at this World Cup, but this is the acid test of course. They did have the easiest group on paper given Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are going through a difficult period. They did beat England at the Super Eight stage which is their best win – but you could say that England batted poorly in their chase. I would expect a closer game than the odds suggest, a fascinating clash ahead.
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
There’s been a bit of controversy coming into the Semi-Finals given it was already decided that India would play in the second Semi-Final regardless of where they finished at the Super Eight stage. This was an obvious advantage for prep work, but here we are. These sides play at Tarouba in Trinidad – Afghanistan played here at the group stage but it will be South Africa’s first game of the tournament here. We’ve had a range of scores here, but we have had plenty of associates involved in the games. The first inning scores have been; 149/9 (won), 95 all out (chased), 40 all out (chased) and 78 all out (chased). Only the first game didn’t have an associate batting first – West Indies defended the 149 against New Zealand. It might be tricky to bat here; especially in the chase under pressure.
RECOMMENDED BET:
As I said above, I do feel we’ll see a closer game than the odds suggest here. Afghanistan have been playing some superb cricket throughout the tournament, and although South Africa are unbeaten they have had some hairy moments against the associates in their group. It’s hard to know what conditions we’re going to have fully based on the game we’ve had here, but it does look like it might be a game for the bowlers rather than the batters. Under pressure the South African batters don’t really cope well, and Afghanistan can put them under a lot of pressure! I feel the 1.37 is too short on South Africa, and from a value point of view I’m happy with a small position on Afghanistan at 3.7 or bigger.
The Edge Says:
One point win Afghanistan to beat South Africa at 3.7 on Betdaq Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/SouAfg
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
In terms of in-running trading strategy, I would go into this game with an open mind on scoring conditions. We really only have a sample of one game here not involving associates; that game was tough for batting and West Indies did well to get up to 149 after losing early wickets. If conditions were the same, you’d definitely want to focus on looking for trades on either bowling side rather than the batting side – I wouldn’t stay on either batting side for long here in my opinion. I can see the South African batting struggling, and that’s where we might see the most market movement.
