Couch Critic provides his betting tips for the second test match between Australia and Pakistan which gets underway in Adelaide on Friday 29th November
AUSTRALIA vs PAKISTAN Adelaide – Friday, 29 November @ 05:30
SETTING THE SCENE
At lunch time on the first day the Pakistanis would have been entertaining thoughts of really giving their hosts a proper fight. Yet from that point on the Aussies pretty much dominated each and every one of the reaming sessions in the test match. David Warner made a welcome return to form and Marnus Labuschagne kept his incredible rise in international cricket going with a sublime knock.
On the bowling front the three Australian quicks were all operating at their usual high levels despite it hardly being the feistiest of Gabba pitches. Talking about pitches we now move on the Adelaide and Misbah ul Haq and his chargers won’t be too displeased to know that spin has played it’s part here.
The Baggy Greens hosted India at the Adelaide Oval in December last year. On that occasion Nathan Lyon picked up 8 wickets and Ashwin six, with the latter getting through 85 overs in the match – clearly not a green Mamba.
LET’S TALK TACTICS
Pakistan are likely to make a few changes for the pink-ball test yet one struggles to see how they can make a 180 degree turn around. Teenager Naseem Shah was tidy enough on debut and Shaheen Afridi improved with later spells. Mohammad Abbas will thus in all likelihood come in for Imran Khan. Whether this one change will make the Pakistan attack strong enough to breeze past Warner, Labuschagne, Smith and friends seems unlikely.
Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan will all take some confidence from what they managed in Brisbane yet they need their batsmen to kick on and rack up the big scores like their counterparts. Against the dangerous trio of Aussie quicks as well as an office in Lyon, who snatched a six-for in the second innings against India at this venue, it’s much easier said than done getting proper runs against this attack.
HOW I SEE IT PLAYING OUT
Yasir Shah was in decent form with the ball in the first test and he will be looking forward to a trip to Adelaide if the wicket plays anything like the one which India encountered. The pink ball might not be his favourite weapon of choice but I believe the leggie will play a big part here. Pakistan were able to keep Steve Smith quiet in Brisbane but one of the best batsman in world cricket is unlikely to miss out twice, especially on a track which should offer up plenty of runs. I am pretty confident that Smith will pitch up extremely hungry for a big one. Purely based on price I will also have a nibble on Shafiq to pitch in with some runs again.
Best Bets with BETOLIMP:
Top Pakistan 1st Inns Bat – A Shafiq @
Top Pakistan 1st Inns Bowler – Y Shah @
Batsman to score a fifty in the 1st Inns – S Smith @
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change
Couch Critic
