New Zealand and Pakistan meet in the first T20 World Cup Semi-Final in Sydney on Wednesday and we take a look at the game from a betting angle.
Let’s start with a look at the Outright Betting heading into the semi-finals where we have India 22/10 favourites ahead of England at 5/2, New Zealand are 33/10 and Pakistan are the outsiders of the quartet at 7/2. There are also other long-term markets still available such as Top Indian Batsman where Kohli is trading as the 5/10 favourite.
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NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand finished top of Group 1 with 3 victories, 1 defeat and 1 game abandoned without a ball been bowled. The highlight of their Group campaign was the 89 run win over Australia in their opening match and their last game was a 35 run victory over Ireland.
Ireland had won the toss and sent New Zealand into bat and the Black Caps scored 185 for 6 in their 20 overs with Kane Williamson getting 61 off just 35 balls. There were also useful and quick contributions from Allen and Mitchell. Ireland were then restricted to a 150 for 9 off their 20 overs with Lockie Ferguson getting 3 for 22 off 4 with able support from Santner and Southee who both getting 2 wickets each.
PAKISTAN
Pakistan snuck into the semi-finals thanks to South Africa getting stunned by the Netherlands in their final group match.
Pakistan’s campaign got off to a poor, but dramatic start when they just lost to India by 4 wickets on the final ball in their opening game and things looked really bad when they went down to Zimbabwe by 1 run in the next match. They then beat the Netherlands by 6 wickets and South Africa by 33 runs and when the Proteas lost to the Netherlands it was all set up for a winner take all clash with Bangladesh.
Bangladesh had won the toss and decided to bat and were restricted to 127 for 8 in their 20 overs with Shaheen Afridi the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 22 off his 4 overs. Pakistan then chased the runs down in the penultimate over with 5 wickets in hand with Rizwan the top scorer with 32 at a run a ball while Haris contributed 31 off just 18 balls.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
New Zealand and Pakistan have met each other 28 times in T20 Internationals with Pakistan winning 17 and New Zealand 11.
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BETTING – Click here to bet
New Zealand 17/20
Pakistan 1/1
Suggested Bet: Pakistan win at 1/1
Pakistan are just the sort of team to take advantage of their good fortune in reaching the playoffs and at their best they are going to be a very difficult team to beat with their bowling line-up particularly impressive. The only thing missing is the form of Babar Azam, but he did at least get 25 runs in the last game, all be it at less than a run a ball. New Zealand have been excellent in this World Cup and the game could well be as close as the betting suggests.
Suggested Bet: Top New Zealand Batter, Kane Williamson at 27/10
Williamson looked in excellent form last time out. My reason for picking him here is because I can see him being the anchor of this innings as others bat around him.
Suggested Bet: Top Pakistan Bowler, Shaheen Afridi at 11/4
Afridi was absolutely on fire against Bangladesh and he is the sort of bowler when he gets his tail up is really hard to handle and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him well in amongst the wickets again.
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
