AustraliaT20WCA betting preview of the T20 World Cup semi final between Pakistan and Australia including match result and top run scorer and wicket taker tips courtesy of @Olimp_SA

 

 

 

 

Pakistan vs. Australia, 11 November 16:00

 

The second semi-final of the ICC T20 World Cup takes place on Thursday afternoon in Dubai between Group 2 winners Pakistan and runners-up in Group 1 Australia. Let’s take a look at how they got there and see if we can find some winning bets!

 

Pakistan

 

Pakistan have been the big surprise of the tournament. They are usually not known as a top-performing T20 side and after losing their warm up match against South Africa they were certainly not considered as potential qualifiers for the semi-final. However, Matthew Hayden and Vernor Philander seem to have brought out the best in the men in green during this World Cup and their team is performing the best that they have in a very long time. They managed to finish the group stage without losing a single match – the only team in the tournament to achieve this feat.

 

Pakistan started off their ICC T20 World Cup in Dubai against arch rivals India and beat them by an overwhelming margin of 10 wickets. Next up they took down New Zealand by five wickets in Sharjah, which they followed up with another five wicket victory against Afghanistan. Their remaining two group stage matches were against much weaker opposition and they had no issues defeating both Namibia and Scotland by massive margins of 45 runs and 72 runs respectively.

 

In their last match on Sunday against Scotland in Sharjah Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat first. They only lost four wickets in their innings with opener Babar Azam being the last to be dismissed in the 18th over for a well-played 66 runs. Valuable contributions by Mohammad Hafeez(31) and Shoaib Malik(54) along the way allowed Pakistan to post a huge target of 190 for the Scottish to chase. 

 

Defending the total was not a difficult task for Pakistan and despite the wickets being slow to fall they did a great job of keeping Scotland’s run rate very low. The breakthrough eventually came in the sixth over through Ali Hasan, while Shadab Khan kept the pressure on with two wickets in the 11th over. At 41/4 with more than half of the innings already gone the Scottish seemed more concerned about preserving their wickets than actually chasing down the total. Pakistan would only take another two wickets in the match and after their 20 overs was up Scotland could only manage a total of 117/6.

 

Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam is the top batsman for his side with 264 runs in the tournament so far, that’s an average of over 50 runs per match which is quite impressive! In the bowling department it’s been the seamers that have been having more success and Haris Rauf leads his side with eight wickets. This includes a spell of 4/22 in their second match against New Zealand.

 

Australia

 

The Australians can be relatively pleased with their performance in the group stage. They won four out of their five matches and the only match that they lost was against group winners England. Group 1 was arguably a lot tougher than Group 2 and the only thing that prevented them from taking first place in the group was their net run rate.

 

Australia started off their ICC T20 World Cup campaign in Abu Dhabi with a comfortable five wicket win against South Africa. They followed this up with a seven wicket win against Sri Lanka, but hit a bump in Dubai where they lost by eight wickets to England. The Australians didn’t let this setback get to them and they made sure they ended off their group stage on a high with an eight wicket victory against both Bangladesh and the West Indies.

 

In their last match on Saturday against the West Indies Justin Langer’s men won the toss and decided to field first. It didn’t take long for them to get a breakthrough and Pat Cummins picked up the first wicket of Chris Gayle in the third over. Josh Hazlewood struck twice in the next over, leaving the Windies at 35/3 and giving his side a firm grip on the game after just four overs. Hazlewood would take a further two wickets in the innings to give him figures of 4/39, while the likes of Adam Zampa and Mitchell Starc would also chip in their bit and make sure the West Indies were restricted to 143/7. During the run chase Australia would lose Aaron Finch early on for just 9 runs, but a second wicket partnership of 124 runs between David Warner and Mitch March would take them to the brink of victory, only to be denied the winning runs by Chris Gayle’s consolation wicket. In the end Australia reached their target with just under four overs to spare.

 

It’s the top order that have been getting all the runs for the Australians with David Warner’s 187 runs being the most for his side in the tournament. The opener has played a massive role in Australia’s batting and interestingly the only match that the Aussies lost was the match where he was dismissed for just one run. Adam Zampa has been the top bowler for his side with 11 wickets which includes a five-for against Bangladesh. Seamer Josh Hazlewood is not far behind in the race for top Australian bowler with eight wickets which includes a spell of 4/39 against the Windies.

 

Prediction

 

When looking at the team’s performances’ leading up to this match it’s very hard to choose between the two. Both teams have a solid batting line-up and their bowling has been equally impressive. Once again I do feel that the Group 1 team does have a slight advantage coming from a much more competitive group, but at the same time Pakistan’s victories against India and New Zealand were very comprehensive and you shouldn’t take that away from them. Pakistan have also won 16 consecutive T20 matches in the UAE, while Australia have not played in a ICC T20 World Cup final since 2010.

 

History is certainly on Pakistan’s side, but I just feel that Australia do have the slight edge going into this match. They have more to offer in their bowling attack with Adam Zampa’s spin and Josh Hazlewood’s pace both taking wickets regularly, while Pakistan have mostly been relying on only their seamers. David Warner can be equally as dangerous on the day as Babar Azam with the bat and I do feel that there is more depth in the Australian batting line-up.

 

At just under even money Australia are worth a bet to me and I like Adam Zampa to be the top bowler since he managed to do it in two out of three of Australia’s matches in Dubai this tournament. I’m also going to back David Warner to stay in form and to be the top batsman for Australia just like he did against the West Indies.

 

BetOlimp Best Bets

Australia to win – 1.93
Top Away Bowler: Adam Zampa – 3.75
Top Away Batsman: David Warner - 3.75
 

Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change

 

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