Match 14 of the ICC Cricket World Cup comprises of a heavyweight clash between two unbeaten sides as Australia take on India at Kennington Oval on Sunday.
Australia:
After a routine 7 wicket victory over Afghanistan at Bristol the Australian’s came out on the right side of a ding dong battle with West Indies at Nottingham on Thursday with a 15 run victory. Having been asked to bat first Australia were in real trouble at 79/5 but they recovered to finish on 288 all out from 49 of their 50 overs. Steve Smith (73) led the recovery, Alex Carey chipped in with 45 but the real game changer was an innings of 92 from number 8 bat Nathan Coulter-Nile in his first appearance of the tournament.
Cummins and Starc took early wickets in West Indies reply but the game was in the balance until the later stages. In the 46th over Starc took 2 key wickets to swing the game Australia’s way and he went on to finish the West Indies off, returning figures of 5/46, well supported by Pat Cummins (2/41).
David Warner and Nathan Coulter-Nile are top scorers for Australia with 92 runs each and Steve Smith has made 91. With the ball Starc has taken 6 wickets, Cummins has 5 and Zampa 4.
In the outright tournament betting Australia are currently trading at around 33/10 to retain their World Cup title.
This was how Australia lined up against West Indies on Thursday.
Aaron Finch (capt), David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa
India:
India had to wait until Match 8 on Wednesday for their first action of the tournament and they obliged for favourite backers with a 6 wicket victory over South Africa at Southampton. India lost the toss and were invited to bowl first and Jasprit Bumrah removed both Proteas’ openers inside 6 overs. South Africa battled on to post 227/9, a target which never looked enough even though conditions offered some assistance to the bowlers. Chahal returned figures of 4/51 and although Bumrah didn’t add to his 2 wicket tally his economy rate of 35 from 10 overs was outstanding.
The chase belonged to Rohit Sharma who finished unbeaten on 122 as India got home in 47.3 overs and he was an obvious choice for Man of the Match.
India are now trading at 3/1 second favourites in the outright betting to win the tournament.
This was how India lined up against the Proteas in their opening match.
Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (capt), Lokesh Rahul, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah
Head to Head
The teams have met 136 times with India winning 49, Australia have won 77 and there have been 10 no results.
India coughed up a 2-0 lead at home to Australia in March this year, a series they lost 3-2.
The Betting, Click here for all markets
Australia 21/20
India 8/10
Note prices quoted are correct at the time of publication but are subject to change.
Verdict:
This looks to have the makings of a pretty even contest and with Starc and Cummins in form for Australia and Bumrah for India we have 3 of the best bowlers in the tournament on view.
For a betting interest we side with no more than 11 sixes in total throughout the game and we stick with Cummins at a more attractive price than Starc to be top Australian bowler.
Suggested Bets:
Total Match 6’s under 11.5 at 9/10
Top Australian bowlers, Pat Cummins at 33/10
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