T20 WORLD CUP: Our cricket tipster The Edge previews Tuesday’s T20 World Cup match between PAKISTAN v NEW ZEALAND with a recommended BETDAQ bet.

MATCH OVERVIEW:

The T20 World Cup continues on Tuesday, and although we have a big double header today I’m going to focus on Pakistan v New Zealand on BETDAQ Betting Exchange. Pakistan stole on the headlines from the weekend with a ten wicket win over India in Dubai on Sunday. That leaves them in an incredibly strong position with a net run rate of +0.97. Not quite as good as England’s +3.97 in the other Group, but it’s still a very strong position to be in considering Pakistan, India and New Zealand are likely to be very close in Group 2. That’s not forgetting Afghanistan too who will give all those three teams a close game.

All this means Tuesday’s game in Sharjah is huge. This will be New Zealand’s first game of the tournament, so Pakistan might have a little edge given their confidence boosting win against India on Sunday. It’s early days and I don’t want to overreact to that win, but it looks like Shaheen Shah Afridi could easily be the player of the tournament. His stats with the new ball in the Powerplay are incredible, and this is all the more impressive when you consider Pakistan players aren’t allowed play IPL cricket either, so he hasn’t been around the other International superstars to learn.

Given Pakistan’s strong opening win, they have a little leeway here. The pressure is on New Zealand to get a result here. Let’s not forget however that a collapse is never far away from this Pakistan batting line-up. They didn’t lose a wicket on Sunday, but how does the middle order cope if they lose three wickets in the first three overs? New Zealand will be hoping to find out.

WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:

After seeing the weekend games, I have changed my opinion on conditions for this World Cup. Batting looked very tough in the UAE in the IPL, however I felt conditions would improve with fresh wickets for the World Cup. The scores were very high in the 2020 version of the IPL here, so I just assumed we would see higher scores in the World Cup. At the weekend we saw West Indies all out for 55, South Africa kept to 118/9 and India kept down to 151/7 in Dubai. Of course, Sharjah looked the toughest wicket of the three grounds in the IPL – so I’m not expecting a big score. As we saw in the Ireland v Namibia game the other day, I strongly feel bowling first offers an edge here.

RECOMMENDED BET:

It’s no surprise to see a reasonably close market here. We should have a close game. For me Pakistan are worth backing at around the 1.8 mark. Their performance with the ball at the weekend against India was very impressive and they will have conditions to suit in Sharjah. I fully respect New Zealand are a very impressive side too, but I can see Pakistan having the edge in the bowling department and that winning the game. I’m happy to keep stakes very small before the off here, as I expect the bowling side to have an edge first up.

The Edge Says:
One point win Pakistan to beat New Zealand at 1.8 with BETDAQ Betting Exchange

View the market here -> https://bit.ly/BDQPakNZ

IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:

As I said above, I feel the biggest in-play edge here will be looking for trades on the bowling side in the first innings. Batting has looked very tough here over the last while, in the qualifying games and in the IPL, often teams have really struggled to put a score on the board batting first and the market has to move in. Added to that, chasing a low score with small boundaries is always easier because you have the big hit six as an option to take off the pressure. I know that is easier said than done when batting is tough, but that has proven to be the case here.