THE EDGE: The Edge previews the Champions Trophy clash between Bangladesh v India with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
Bangladesh v India
MATCH OVERVIEW:
Champions Trophy favourites India get their campaign underway on BETDAQ Betting Exchange as they take on Bangladesh in Dubai on Thursday. Where India would play their games leading into this tournament has been the main talking point – they have played hardball with the ICC ever since Pakistan was awarded hosting rights. At the end of the day, money talks in cricket these days and the BCCI got what they wanted with India played their games in Dubai. It must be a logistical nightmare for the ICC – we are in a situation where Pakistan are hosts but the Final could easily take place in Dubai. Pakistan cricket fans will be hoping to see India crash out (more so than usual!) so they can get a chance to see the Final in Lahore.
Pakistan haven’t hosted an ICC event since 1996, indeed they face a huge International cricket break after the terror attack on Sri Lanka in 2009. When the decision was made that Pakistan would host the Champions Trophy, there were always going to be massive issues around that. Anyway, as always you might say, India have got their way. They have a relatively easy opening fixture too against Bangladesh, and they will be the red-hot favourites to get their tournament off to a winning start. Anything bar a comfortable win for India would be a surprise here.
They warmed up for this tournament with a T20 and ODI series against England. No Jasprit Bumrah is a huge blow coming into this tournament however. The major positive from a squad point of view is that India know they will play all the games in Dubai, so they can adjust their playing style and playing XI for conditions – it’s a pretty big advantage when everyone else will move around. Once again, it would be a surprise if India didn’t reach the Final but as we saw in the ODI World Cup; that tends to be when the pressure comes on and cracks appear.
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
Pakistan’s loss in Dubai’s gain – they will also host the huge clash between India and Pakistan which, let’s face it, is always the fixture cricketing fans want to see because we only see it at major tournaments. Bragging rights last a while in that fixture! The Indian players will know conditions very well here – the UAE stepped in to host the IPL during Covid times. We’ve had a huge amount of associate cricket here over the last few years, so I wouldn’t read too much into what Canada, Nepal, PNG, Oman and Scotland were scoring! We’ll most likely see a reasonably big gap in the scoring here depending on who bats first to be honest.
RECOMMENDED BET:
India come into the game as the heavy favourites – they are trading as short as 1.13 at the time of writing. Obviously there’s a huge gulf in class between the sides, and Bangladesh haven’t even been firing coming into this tournament either. No Shakib Al Hasan takes away the match winning star-effect; his ODI career likely close to over given he’s been banned for an illegal bowling action. Bangladesh have also left Litton Das out of their squad too – a big game but obviously woefully out of form too. Bangladesh are going through a period of transition, and India will likely eat them up here. I’m not going to recommend a 1.13 shot, but I can’t see past India here.
The Edge Says:
No Bet. Back India if they trade higher than 1.3 in-running.
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/CTBaIn
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
With the gulf in class between the sides quite big here, this game is going to be about trying to get the biggest price possible on India. Or aiming for a quick bounce if you want to take on an Indian batter. I would suggest we’ll see a big range in the scores here depending if India bat first or not – if we get excellent batting conditions it might be worth opening a trade on the Bangladesh top-order, but the market will fully expect India to either chase what Bangladesh set or put up a big score themselves in good batting conditions. We will get better trading opportunities as the tournament goes on!
