Cricket World Cup Day 2: Pakistan to dent India’s title defence
Published:
The second day of competition at the Cricket World Cup sees one of the most intense sporting rivalries on the planet take centre-stage, as India start their defence against Pakistan at the Adelaide Oval.
Before this historic feud between two cricket-barmy nations gets underway however, two more neighbours face off down in Hamilton, New Zealand and unlike the match which follows it, the result looks set in stone.
Only co-hosts Australia are shorter than 3/1 shots South Africa for overall glory, who rate as 1/25 chances to record victory over minnows Zimbabwe in their Pool B ice-breaker.
Therefore, ignoring the result and plumping for the 5/6 about a century occurring in the match looks one way of generating some dividends from the lopsided contest.
As the match odds suggest for the main event in Pool B between India and Pakistan, a far tighter contest is expected, while the value seems to be with the latter as 6/4 underdogs.
India may be the champions, but other than racking up a big win over Afghanistan in their last warm-up game, their preparations for the tournament have gone terribly in conditions which historically faze them.
During the recent tri-series Down Under MS Dhoni and co lost twice each to Australia and more worryingly for their chances, England on separate occasions as well.
Injuries have been a plague for the Indians with strike bowler Ishant Sharma ruled out of the whole tournament, while the latest member of a weakened pace attack to be cast into doubt is Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Meanwhile, Pakistan, winners of the last World Cup in the Antipodes, prepared for this clash with wins over Bangladesh and latterly England in their final two warm-up matches.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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