A betting preview and tips for the 2026 T20 World Cup matches taking place on Thursday 12th February including Sri Lanka v Oman, Nepal v Italy and India v Namibia
LOVE IS IN THE AIR
If you haven’t got your Valentines Day plans sorted by this stage the chances are that you are in the same spot of bother as Afghanistan in the T20 Cricket World Cup! But let’s take a look at who still has a chance to be feeling the love come Saturday, after a strong Thursday outing.
SRI LANKA v OMAN, Pallekele
The batsmen aren’t likely to be receiving any chocolates on this track. It was a low-scoring dust bowl when the English faced the Sri Lankans here recently.
Oman flopped against Zimbabwe and things won’t get rosier for them against Welllage, Theekshana and Hemantha (Hasaranga sadly had to leave the tournament due to injury).
Man of the Match – D Hemantha @ 21.00 with Pokerbet
The leggy comes in for Hassaranga and I’m hoping for an instant impact.
A Fifty to be scored in the match – No @ 3.90 with Pokerbet
It was less than 2 weeks ago that England and Sri Lanka both struggled here. I don’t see the batsmen sending the curator a love letter after this one.
ITALY v NEPAL, Wankhede
Nepal looked quite the Casanovas when they almost pulled off one of the biggest upsets by making the fancied English sweat till the very end at this same venue.
The Manenti brothers gave it their all against the Scots on Monday, but it isn’t likely to be when Harry met Sally type love story for the Italians as the Nepalese seem the stronger outfit.
Player to score most Sixes – JJ Smuts @ 6.50 with Pokerbet
He might never have played a competitive game of cricket in his “home country” but Smuts is an experience campaigner and physically a big lad. He will go big or go home (wherever that is exactly).
Man of the Match – S Lamichhane @ 8.00 with Pokerbet
The top sides will know to give the chief spinner in the attack his flowers and look to target the other bowlers. For the Italians this could prove easier said than done.
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Namibia didn’t look out of their depth against the Netherlands on Tuesday, but the volume will be turned all the way up when they take on the hosts, tournament favourites and ultimate fan crush, India.
The “lesser” of the African teams at the comp showed some signs of fight against the Netherlands, but they will need more than a corny pick-up line to score the “W” on this occasion.
Indian hearts skipped a beat, for all the wrong reasons, on Saturday when their team where 46/4 and then 118/7. SKY saved them their blushes on that occasion, but the hosts will be wanting a strong outing from their top order this time around.
Namibia Total Sixes – Over 3.5 @ 1.92 with Pokerbet
The Namibians are a feisty bunch, and I think they will go down swinging. They scored 7 big hits against the Dutch.
India Top Batter – T Varma @ 6.00 with Pokerbet
I still see some value in this price for a man batting at number 3.
India Player to core Most Sixes – T Varma @ 9.00 with Pokerbet
I’m a monogamous kind of guy and as such it should come as no surprise that I have all my eggs are in one basket here, but again the price appeals.
Note, odds are subject to change