India v Netherlands T20 World Cup Tips: Yadav worth a risk at 13/2

India v Netherlands
Thursday 27 October, 09:00
TV: Live on Sky Sports

Team news

India are the new favourites for the title after a win over Pakistan. They're buzzing because they beat their rivals but also because Virat Kohli produced an innings which suggests he's worth his place after all.

Concerns remain over their death bowling and it has to be said that a team with a modicum of nerve would have closed India out easily.

Probable XI: Rahul, Rohit, Kohli, Yadav, Hardik, Karthik, Axar, Ashwin, Kumar, Shami, Arshdeep

Netherlands will be feeling sore that they didn't beat Bangladesh in their first Super 12 game. As ever with the smaller teams, the batting just wasn't quite good enough.

There's nowt to wo worry about with the ball, though. The Dutch have been consistently tight and clearly have good plans in place.

Probable XI: O'Dowd, Singh, de Leede, Ackermann, Cooper, Edwards, Pringle, van Beek, Shariz, Klaasen, van Meekeren

Pitch report

The SCG pitch looked flat for the Kiwis against Australia when they posted 200. India will reckon they should emulate that if they bat first. But don't go mad. Netherlands were the tightest of the first-round teams with the ball over a long study period and they have not been disgraced. It's a risk, of course, but cheap lays at 170 or 180 or more India might be a play.

How to play

India are 1.051/20 with Netherlands 18.017/1. At such a pig price on the Dutch there's always a case for a trade. But there are plenty of caveats.

They start with the Dutch batting first and doing well enough to post 160. They then need to nip a couple out. The latter looks more likely than the former.

Tops value

There are two prices that interest us on the top team bat market. For a start, Suryakumar Yadav is surprisingly big at 13/2. It's a massive chunk for the punter on win rate. We get that at No 4 against an Associate he might not get much batting time but it's a risk worth taking.

Rohit Sharma has been boosted to 3/1, KL Rahul is 5/2. The openers could well be primed. Kohli is 13/5.

For Netherlands skipper Scott Edwards is a solid lower-order rungetter. The 17/2 that he tops is worth a nibble. there's not much to beat and 20 or 30 could win it.