South Africa return to T20 action for the first time since the World Cup in 2021 and they face India in the first of five T20’s in Delhi on Thursday. We take a look at the match from a betting angle.
India will be captained by KL Rahul and despite missing some big name players they have plenty of depth in the squad, a definite benefit of hosting the IPL Tournament which has recently been completed.
Temba Bavuma skippers the Proteas team and he is backed by a number of players who have been in good form in the IPL in particular David Miller who had some blistering knocks.
India are always a formidable opponent at home and in their last two home T20 Series they have beaten West Indies and Sri Lanka 3-0.
I was quite surprised to see that the Proteas haven't been in T20 action since the World Cup where they were unfortunate to go out in the group stages on net run rate. Taking on India in a 5 match series is a tougher reintroduction to the game as you can ask and despite plenty of talent in the squad they have it all do here.
BETTING – Click here to bet
India 4/7
South Africa 29/20
We obviously don’t have a lot of recent form to go on particularly where the Proteas are concerned and I do think the bookmakers have got the match betting about right and I am going to look to the other markets on offer for my selections.
Suggested Bet: Team Total Match 6’s, South Africa over 4.5 at 9/10
The Proteas have some big hitters in the squad and if the likes of de Kock and Miller spend time at the crease this line could be made to look very low.
Suggested Bet: Top Home Batsman, KL Rahul at 12/5
I am expecting Rahul to lead from the front in this series and while cases can be made for a few of the other batsmen I can’t look past him to score the most runs for the hosts.
Suggested Bet: Top Away Bowler, Shamsi at 15/4
The Indian team are not the sort of side to play a spinner with respect and I think they are going to go after Shamsi from the word go and this could open up wicket taking opportunities.
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
