Up next are our India vs South Africa betting tips ahead of this 4th T20I at Rajkot, starting on Friday June 17 at 7.00pm IST.
But that’s not all. We also have historic stats, a pitch report, the latest team news and everything related to online cricket betting before the action gets under way.
My cricket predictions are up next for this Fourth T20I between India and South Africa. Despite being 2-1 up, South Africa are still considerable outsiders.
I’m about to explain why this is closer to a 50/50 affair than one where India are hot favourites, so we have to take advantage of the big price on South Africa. So they’re the bet.
Recommended Bet: Back South Africa at 2.32 with Parimatch.
Last time out, SA were just 2.14. Now they’re 2.32 after that comprehensive defeat on Tuesday.
But maybe they shouldn’t be. They are after all still 2-1 up and may well be boosted by the returns of Quinton de Kock (injury), Aiden Markram (Covid), or both.
SA’s big sin in the last match was to let that opening partnership get off to a flier and they’ll be thinking that if they can get one or both of those openers out, they could expose a middle-order where Rishabh Pant looks badly out of form and the likes of Shreyas Iyer has been a bit hit-and-miss.
As we always say here at Bet India, the key is betting value, not betting on who you think will win.
India looked much better in that last match but we still think it should be a lot closer to a 50/50 affair.
India are at home so that’s their edge while on the flipside, they’ve rested key players for this Series, which is South Africa’s edge.
So with the Proteas considerable outsiders, they’re the ones to go with.
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Tuesday’s win to make it 2-1 from 2-0 shows that T20 cricket is a somewhat fickle game.
One day you can look like a really mediocre side and the next things just click into place for whatever reason and you’re not such a bad side after all.
The key of course was their strong start with the bat.
Unlike in the two previous games, both openers (Ishan Kishan and Ruturaj Gaikwad) got to 50 with decent strike rates, which set the platform for the others to go out and bat freely.
Hardik Pandya scored his second 31 not out of the Series and did so quickly, though the form of Rishabh Pant with the bat carries on being a cause for concern.
They were good with the ball, too.
Harshal Patel may have been their top bowler with four wickets but the real star was man-of-the-match Yuzvendra Chahal.
The spinner dismissed their numbers 3, 4 and 5 and went for just 20 runs off his four overs.
Now that they’re back in the Series, they’re unlikely to change a winning team but we’re all still waiting to see uber-quick Umran Malik in action.
We could say the same thing about South Africa. Very impressive in the first two games, they’re not all of a sudden a bad side just because they lost this one.
It was just a rather poor performance all round.
Most of the bowlers went for too many runs and it was their inability to break up the opening partnership that really cost them.
With the bat, they just couldn’t get any partnerships going and in the end Heinrich Klassen ended up top scoring with just 29, proof that no-one really got themselves in.
The absences of Quinton de Kock and Aiden Markram have weakened the side but perhaps they have an even bigger problem in the long-term.
Having made Temba Bavuma skipper, they obviously have to play him but his strike rate is too low and they’re not sure where to bat him. He’s been opening this Series but just wastes up too many balls.
He could end up being the team’s weakest link.
The usually reliable Anrich Nortje is having an under-par Series by his standards so he may be replaced by Lungi Ngidi or Marco Jansen here.
South Africa’s Likely XI
De Kock, Bavuma, Pretorius, van der Dussen, Miller, Klassen, Parnell, Maharaj, Rabada, Ngidi, Shamsi.
India vs South Africa Head-to-Head
These two have played each other 15 times in T20Is with India 10-8 up over the years after the hosts won on Tuesday.
There are two matches left in the Series. If SA win them both, they’ll be all square at 10-10.
Venue & conditions
There have been just three T20I matches played here at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot. India have won two of the three they’ve played there, beating Australia (2013) and Bangladesh (2019) and losing to New Zealand (2017).
In that match at Bangladesh, the most recent one, India chased 154 with four overs to spare.
But before that New Zealand posted 196 and back in 2013, India chased 202 with two balls to spare against Australia, thanks to a Yuvraj Singh masterclass with the bat.
So yes, there haven’t been too many matches to go by but this looks like a high-scoring ground.
180 will probably be the target score for the side batting first.
