India vs Sri Lanka – India to send fans into a frenzy
Published:India are 4/7 in the Cricket World Cup betting to beat Sri Lanka in the final of the tournament and the injury to Angelo Mathews should further enhance their chances of victory.
Match Odds
The loss of Mathews is a bitter blow for Sri Lanka as they look to avoid successive World Cup final defeats as he has been the only all-rounder in their line-up throughout the tournament to date.
Meanwhile, he is likely to be replaced by another bowler by Sri Lanka, which will put added pressure on the six batsmen they will select.
Furthermore, India also hold home advantage with the game being played in Mumbai and they have triumphed on 14 of the last 16 occasions that they have hosted Sri Lanka in one-day internationals.
Sri Lanka do hold the initiative in previous World Cup fixtures against India, winning four of their previous seven matches and can never be ruled out given the strength of their bowling attack.
Muttiah Muralitharan will be determined to make an impact on his final appearance in international cricket, but it is hard to know how fit he actually is following groin troubles.
However, greater pressure may be on Lasith Malinga to deliver based on the fact that the pitch is expected to be better suited to seam bowling.
Sri Lanka are 11/8 to win the Cricket World Cup final for a second time.
Top bowlers
With pace expected to take centre stage, it seems likely that Zaheer Khan and Malinga will be the bowlers to watch for their respective teams.
Khan has been India’s most destructive bowler throughout the tournament and needs three Sri Lankan wickets to end the tournament as the top wicket taker.
The left-arm seamer is 5/2 to take the most wickets for India against Sri Lanka and 11/8 to claim enough scalps to move ahead of the 21 already taken by Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi.
Malinga has been relatively quiet throughout the tournament but looks good value at 11/4 to take the most Indian victims, particularly if India end up batting first.
A £20 stake on Malinga being named as the man of the match in the World Cup final would return £240. New customers can sign up here to take advantage of free bets totalling up to £60.
