Sri Lanka v India Prediction: Why we’re hot on 16/5 Kuldeep in 2nd ODI

The 2nd ODI between Sri Lanka and India will be played on August 4 in Colombo with a start time of 10.00 UK time on TNT Sports after that thrilling tied match on Friday in Game 1.

James Pacheco returned a healthy profit thanks to Axar Patel in the first match and has a 3/1 top Sri Lanka top batsman and a 16/5 top India bowler selection ahead of this one as he takes us through his Sri Lanka vs India Predictions…

Sri Lanka

That they were celebrating wildly at the end of the tied match on Friday tells you all you need to know: they were by far the happiest of the two with the result, which is understandable given India were ahead for the vast majority of the match.

Most of all, when the scores were tied and they still had two wickets in hand and two overs to go, before skipper Charith Asalanka took two wickets in two balls to tie the match. Not bad for a part-timer spinner.

Earlier Pathum Nissanka and Dunith Wellalage hit fifties before Asalanka and Wanindu Hasaranga both took three wickets.

Maheesh Theekshana might play and if he does, Janith Liyanage might be the one to give way.

Asalanka also impressed with his captaincy and Sri Lanka showed real appetite for the fight in what looked like a losing cause for most of the match, so those are two good signs for the future.

Possible XI:  Nissanka, A Fernando, K Mendis, Samarawickrama, Asalanka, Wellalage, Hasaranga, Theekshana, Dananjaya, Shiraz.

India

In normal circumstances they would have got over the line by hook or by crook but this time round they didn’t.

Lots of players made starts with the bat but only skipper Rohit Sharma kicked on to get to 50 (58 to be precise) with the likes of Shivam Dube guilty of not keeping a cool head as the pressure increased.

With the ball, Axar Patel and Arshdeep Singh were the pick of the bowlers with two wickets each, Patel being far more economical. India will rue giving Shubman Gill an over because it went for 14 runs and changed the whole match in a low-scoring affair.

Washington Sundar was promoted to No 4 but didn’t make the most of the opportunity, scoring just 5, and conceded 46 off 9, their most expensive bowler bar Gill.

So they may bring in Riyan Parag in for Sundar, which would give them more batting depth.

Possible XI: Sharma, Gill, Kohli, Iyer, Rahul, Parag, Dube, Axar, Kuldeep, Arshdeep, Siraj.

Pitch and conditions

We’re at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo again and we know what to expect.

Lots and lots of overs of spin where even part time-spinners can seem like they’re Muttiah Muralitharan on a wicket with plenty of turn and uneven bounce.

There’s a 60% toss bias here for the side batting first at this ground and we saw the importance of that with Sri Lanka tying the game after posting an under-par score.

So both sides will probably want to bat first, though the possibility of rain may change the thinking as if DLS comes into play, chasing is generally the better of the two options in matches where overs ar reduced due to rain.

If the rain stays away, 245 will be seen as a very good first innings score.

Sri Lanka vs India Odds

Sri Lanka were 7/2 ahead of the first match and have been cut slightly here to 11/4.

That’s understandable given they showed lots of guts and skill in equal measure in defending that total on Friday and they can certainly compete with India in the spin department.

But their batting looks a little flaky and they may have missed a trick by not selecting the vastly experienced duo of Dananjaya de Silva and Angelo Mathews.

Still, if they bat first given the toss bias, and if the rain looks like it might mostly stay away, that 11/4 may not be the worst price.

*You can check out all of our Cricket Odds over on betfred.com

Sri Lanka Top Batsman

Pathum Nissanka was pipped at the post for top batsman honours when his 56 was beaten by that fine 67 not out from Dunith Wellalage in the final overs.

But the opener could come good this time. In his last seven ODIs he’s scored 553 runs at an average of 92, unsurprisingly the best record of anyone over the study period. But his career stats suggest he’s a fine player in this format in the long run, averaging 44 and hitting six centuries in 56 games.

Following the rationale that batting will be at its easiest early on before the spinners come on and that’s a further advantage. 50 may well be enough. As is the fact that he’s now 3/1 after being 11/4 in the first game.

India Top Bowler

Axar Patel gave us a good winner (of sorts) when he dead-heated on two wickets with Arshdeep Singh in the first match.

For the sake of clarity: that means we got paid out at 2/1 rather than the 4/1 if he’d won outright, It’s a bit unlucky that Betfred dead-heat rather than looking at runs conceded when players are tied on the same number of wickets (as lots of other Sportsbooks do) because Axar conceded 33 to Singh’s 47; but anyway.

Singh was the odd one out on the day because both of Sri Lanka’s top wicket-takers were also spinners.

So spin it is and we change allegiances to Kuldeep Yadav here, who took a wicket, was economical in conceding just 33 runs (always a sign he’s bowling well) and was unlucky not to have taken at least one more wicket.

He has an excellent record in ODIs, always bowls his 10 and is a decent price, all things considered, at 16/5.

Jamie Pacheco predominantly covers Cricket for us at Betfred Insights. You can check out his Cricket Betting Tips, along with those from the rest of the team, at our Cricket hub page…