South Africa vs Pakistan – 1st ODI Betting Tips

South Africa and Pakistan will face off in the first of three-match ODI series at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Friday.

The first and third ODI will be played in Centurion whereas Johannesburg will host the second fixture.

The series will be an interesting one as both teams are currently under pressure to improve their standings in the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup Super League standings.

As things stand, Pakistan are currently placed on the seventh spot in ICC world Cup Super League whereas the Proteas are not even in the top-10.

Therefore, both teams will be eager to produce a positive result in order to strengthen their position which can help them in securing an automatic qualification for the ICC 2023 World Cup.

South Africa Form and Team news:

South Africa will be coming in the series relatively low-on-confidence as they’ve suffered a series defeat against Pakistan in the Tests and T20Is.

The team management will be hoping to see the players perform a much better performance while playing on the home soil.

However, the home team is likely to face a problem as Cricket South Africa have already announced that they will let the players leave if they have been signed by franchises in the Indian Premier League (IPL) after the second fixture.

The team will be led by the middle-order batsman Temba Bavuma who will be captaining the national team for the first time.

In the batting department, the team management will be heavily relying on the likes of former captain Quinton de Kock, Heinrich Klaasen, Bavuma, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen and David Miller to score bulk of the runs and put the visiting team under pressure.

On the bowling front, the onus will be on the likes of pacers Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Beuran Hendricks to produce timely breakthroughs.

Pakistan Form and Team News:

Pakistan will be coming in the series high-on-confidence as they’ve already defeated the same opposition while playing at home in their previous outing in international cricket.

The Men in Green have already suffered an injury below as middle-order batsman Saud Shakeel has already been ruled out of the ODI series and he has been replaced by Asif Ali.

The series will be Babar Azam’s first test as a captain in the ODI format on an away soil and it will be interesting to see how he manages to lead from the front in testing conditions.

In the batting department, the Green Caps will be depending on the likes captain Babar, opening batsman Imam-ul-Haq, in-form wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan and Asif Ali to score bulk of the runs.

On the bowling front, the team will be heavily relying on the likes of pacers Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali, Faheem Ashraf and Mohammad Hasnain to produce timely breakthroughs.

Odds by Casumo

According to the Casumo sportsbook, Host South Africa will be slight favorites to win the opening game of the ODI series. For the first ODI, South Africa are placed at 1.49 odds, while Pakistan at 2.50 odds.

Check out our Cricket Odds Here

 

Our Tipster’s Angle

The three-match ODI series is expected to be a closely-fought contest as both teams are in a rebuilding phase for the 2023 ICC World Cup. Therefore, it is extremely hard to predict a winner.

Looking at the overall composition of both teams, the home side looks a more formidable and experienced one in comparison to Pakistan.

Therefore, our prediction is for South Africa to register a comfortable win over Pakistan in the opening game of the one-day series.

Tip 1: Quinton de Kock’s impressive limited-overs record at Centurion

Earlier this year, Quinton de Kock has struggled to produce runs for the side in the five-day format. Wicket-keeper batsman will be looking to get back amongst the runs in this one-day series.

De Kock will heart from the fact that he holds an excellent record at Centurion. In nine one-day matches, Left-hander has accumulated 689 runs at an average of 76.55 with four centuries and one half-centuries to his name.

Given his formidable limited-overs cricket at Centurion, we are expecting Quinton de Kock to score 40 runs or [email protected].

Tip 2: Shaheen Afridi will be looking to continue his excellent form

After consistently doing well for Pakistan in all three formats, Shaheen Afridi will be looking to maintain his standards with the ball in South Africa.

Since Jan 2019, Shaheen Afridi has been the most consistent performer for Pakistan in limited-overs cricket. Left-arm quick has topped the bowling charts with 32 wickets at an average of 23.28. Given his excellent performance in the past six months, we are expecting Shaheen Afridi to pick two wickets or [email protected].

Conclusion

Expect South Africa to register a comfortable win over Pakistan in series opener at Centurion.

1. Quinton de Kock to score 40 runs or more-South [email protected]
2. Shaheen Afridi to pick two wickets or more- [email protected]

Check out our Cricket Odds Here