THE EDGE: Previews Thursday’s 2nd Test between West Indies v India with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
MATCH OVERVIEW:
West Indies and India do battle again on Thursday, and you could be forgiven for wondering how many days trading will we get on BETDAQ Betting Exchange. West Indies were very poor in the opening Test, losing by an innings and 141 runs after getting bowled out for 150 and 130. They couldn’t even bowl India out either, declaring at 421/5. Make no mistake, West Indies cricket is in crisis at the moment. They crashed out of the ODI World Cup qualifier and for the first time in cricketing history they won’t be at a World Cup.
As I said in my preview of the 1st Test, the road back is long and painful, but they have to start somewhere. India touring brings in money to invest in the grassroots, and that is a massive advantage over the likes of Scotland, Netherlands and even Ireland who are all having money issues. Cricket Ireland is $5 million short this season, and India touring Dublin in August is almost bailing them out. India of course have all the money in world cricket at the moment, and perhaps a two-tier system is needed – but the ICC seem unwilling the fund the smaller nations.
What we get is a lot of miss-match cricket, and once again India are heavy favourites to win here. It’s hard to see past them as well. You wonder how much has to go wrong for India for them not to win? If West Indies are only managing scores like 150 and 130, how can they be competitive. Perhaps this series is only highlighting the cricketing issues we have at the moment!
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
We move to Port Of Spain for the 2nd Test, and this is usually a result venue. Since 1933 there has only been four draws here from 20 Tests. Three of those draws however have arrived within the last six Tests. We haven’t had a Test here since 2018 though, and obviously tactics have changed a lot since. One wonders what kind of wicket we’ll see – those three draws came against England, Australia and India – the three big sides money wise and it would have paid the West Indies board to make sure those games went the full five days!
RECOMMENDED BET:
Even if we get a very flat wicket, it’s hard to see past an Indian win here. It’s even harder to see a win for West Indies, and the market has them as high as 20.0+. In fairness, I can’t even see a situation where they win – even if India collapse for one innings, they’ll likely come good with their other innings and the West Indies batters looked clueless in the 1st Test. The gulf in class was so big I can’t see past India here at 1.34. The draw might be worth a trade at some point when India are batting at 4.6, but I wouldn’t trust West Indies with the bat.
The Edge Says:
Five points win India to beat West Indies at 1.34 with Betdaq Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/WIInd2
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
There wasn’t much time for trading in the 1st Test as it was a complete 1.01 train. You’d be worried about the same thing happening here too – West Indies batting first will move the market either way. If they bat poorly it’s a 1.01 train and if they bat well it brings the draw into the trading picture. I feel we’ll see a reasonably flat wicket, but at the same time the West Indies just haven’t got the quality to stop this Indian attack. I’d only want to look for trades on India here when you feel the market is offering value.
