The 2016 World Twenty20 is now well and truly underway and there are a number of key matches set to take place this weekend.
India started the tournament as clear favourites, but their campaign hit an early roadblock against a New Zealand side that was able to record a comfortable victory – just like I predicted they would in my opening round preview.
Australia start their campaign against New Zealand on Friday Night and are desperate to claim the one title that has eluded them, but do the Aussies have the Twenty20 talent required to win the tournament?
Australia’s Twenty20 form has been very inconsistent in the lead-up to the World Twenty20 – they lost against India at home and beat South Africa in South Africa before they lost to the West Indies in their final warm-up game.
There has been plenty of speculation about the exact make-up of the Australian side, but it has become extremely clear that the selectors need to make the tough call and replace former captain Aaron Finch with Usman Khawaja at the top of the order.
Even if Australia go in with their strongest side possible, they will still face a stiff assignment against a New Zealand side that will be filled with confidence following their win over India.
Spinners Mitch Santner and Ish Sodhi were outstanding for the Black Caps and they are the sort of spin bowlers that have troubled the Australian top order in recent times.
The issue for New Zealand is that they have a very poor record against Australia in Twenty20 Cricket and they are yet to beat their Trans-Tasman rivals, while they rarely string together back-to-back World Twenty20 wins.
Bowling will be key for both sides and if the likes of Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Coulter-Nile are able to bowl at their best than Australia will prove very tough to beat.
Recommended Bet: Australia To Win At $1.67
England were very poor in their opening World Twenty20 clash with West Indies and they face an even tougher challenge against a South African side that features some of the most explosive batsmen in world cricket.
South Africa really don’t have the strongest record in Twenty20 cricket and they are yet to go close to winning the World Twenty20, but they do have an outstanding record against England and have won seven of the ten games completed between the two sides.
The likes of Faf du Plessis, Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, AB De Villiers and JP Duminy can take a game away from their rivals extremely quickly and England just don’t have the firepower in their batting line-up to match it with their rivals.
Recommended Bet: South Africa To Win @ $1.67
This is one of the biggest rivalry in world cricket and there could be some very ugly scenes at Eden Gardens if India are not able to get the job done.
India were extremely ordinary in their opening World Twenty20 clash with New Zealand, while a firing Shahid Afridi was able to lead Pakistan to a very big win over an in-form Bangladesh.
This will be the seventh meeting between the two sides and India have dominated their rivals – winning five of the seven games between the two sides.
It is tough to see India producing a performance as poor as they did in the opening game of the Super 10 stage of the tournament, but there is no way that they should be as short as the $1.44 on offer.
India are the team to beat and definitely have more to play for, but you can’t ignore the $2.75 on offer for Pakistan and they are the best value bet of this stage of the tournament.
Recommended Bet: Pakistan To Win @ $2.50
This is the biggest mistmatch of this stage of the tournament.
Afghanistan were far from disgraced against Sri Lanka and they posted a competitive total of 153 and it took Sri Lanka almost 19 overs to chase down the total, but they were always in control.
South Africa will likely be able to post a very high score here and Afghanistan just don’t have the batting talent at this level to chase them down.
You can’t bet against South Africa here, but their is no edge at their current price and I am happy to stay out of this game from a betting perspective.
Recommended Bet: No Bet