After taking a 2-0 beating in the Test Series, a new look South African T20 side starts a three match series against Pakistan in Lahore on Thursday. We take a look at the match from a betting angle.
If South African fans are worried about the Proteas carrying scars from the Test Series into this T20 Series, they needn’t as virtually the entire Test Squad has gone home to be replaced by a T20 Squad led by Heinrich Klaasen.
The Pakistan Squad will be led by Babar Azam and has a more familiar feel to it for those who watched the Test Series.
Neither of these sides have had significant T20 exposure, Pakistan are coming off a 2-1 series defeat in New Zealand back in December. South Africa hosted England in December and lost all 3 matches following which that Tour was called off due to COVID-19 reasons.
A look at Pakistan’s home record in T20’s makes pleasant reading for them and they are unbeaten in their last 6 T20’s with 1 abandoned match.
1st T20 Betting – click here to bet
Pakistan 9/20
South Africa 18/10
Pakistan are justifiably short in the betting with South Africa fielding a largely untested squad. This is T20 cricket though and it is fair to say that anything can happen.
I am not going to get involved in the match betting, but there are a number of Exotic Markets that catch the eye.
SUGGESTED BET: Batsman Total Match 4’s, Azam over 3.5 at 17/20
Babar Azam has taken to T20 cricket in a big way and currently averages over 50 and I am backing him to score at least four 4’s in this innings.
The other option would have been to take the 19/10 that he is the Top Home Batsman in the match.
SUGGESTED BET: Top Away Batsman, Klaasen at 5/1
I think this market is very open and it is tough to make a solid case for any of the Proteas batsmen. I have always rated Klaasen highly and hope he can lead from the front and top the run scoring for his team.
SUGGESTED BET: Player to score the most 6’s, David Miller at 13/2
Haider Ali tops this market at 5/1 and I am going to take a speculative play on the big hitting Protea, Miller clearing the boundaries more than anybody else.
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
