Sri Lanka vs South Africa 1st ODI – Betting Tips

South Africa and South Africa will face off in the first of the three-match ODI series at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Thursday.

All three matches of the limited-overs series will be played at the same venue. The bilateral one-day series will be an opportunity for both teams to improve their standings in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League.

As things stand, South Africa is currently placed on the tenth spot in ICC world Cup Super League with 24 points to their name. On the other hand, Sri Lanka is languishing at the eleventh place with two wins and nine losses.

Both teams have competed in 77 matches in the history of one-day format where South Africa have an upper hand with 44 wins compared to Sri Lanka’s 31 victories whereas one game ended in a tie.

Sri Lanka Form and Team news: 

Sri Lankan Cricket Board has named all-rounder Dasun Shanaka as the new ODI captain of the side. Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dinesh Chandimal, and Kusal Perera make their return to the limited-overs squad.

In the batting department, the Islanders will be depending on the likes of in-form opening batsman Kusal Perera, Avishka Fernando, the middle-order trio of Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dinesh Chandimal, and Dhananjaya de Silva to score the bulk of the runs. 

On the bowling front, the team will be relying on the pace duo of and Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan Pradeep to provide crucial breakthroughs in this contest. 

Wanindu Hasaranga, Praveen Jayawickrama, and Akila Dhananjaya will be prominent spinners for the visitors for this opening encounter.

South Africa Form and Team news: 

South Africa will be coming into the series relatively high-on confidence after managing to complete a whitewash over Ireland in the T20 series.

Skipper Temba Bavuma will be hoping that the side can acclimatize to the conditions and deliver their best cricket in the ODI series. Lizaad Williams, Wiann Mulder, and Keshav Maharaj have been retained for their excellent performances against Ireland.

In the batting department, the team management will be heavily relying on the likes of openers Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, the middle-order duo of Temba Bavuma, and Rassie van der Dussen to deliver the bulk of the runs and put Sri Lanka under pressure.

On the bowling front, the onus will be on the new-ball pair of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje to produce timely breakthroughs. 

Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi will be prominent spin options for South Africa for this opening encounter.

Odds by Casumo

According to the Casumo sportsbook, South Africa will be the favorites to win the opening game of the three-match ODI series at Colombo. For the series opener, South Africa are placed at 1.57 odds, while Sri Lanka is at 2.32 odds.

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Our Tipsters Angle

With South Africa struggling for consistency in the white-ball format and Sri Lanka going through a terminal decline, the three-match ODI series is expected to be a closely contested one. Given their recent performances in limited-overs cricket, it is quite tough to predict a winner in this opening encounter.

Looking at the overall squads for both teams, the visitors look a more formidable and experienced one in comparison to Sri Lanka.

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

Tip 1- Akila Dhananjaya’s decent limited-overs record against South Africa.

Despite playing one limited-overs game this year, off-spinner Akila Dhananjaya will be looking to prove a point in this one-day series against South Africa.

The off-spinner will heart from the fact that he holds an excellent record against South Africa in the limited-overs format. In nine one-day matches, Akila Dhananjaya has claimed 16 wickets at an average of 27.12 with one five-wicket haul to his name.

Given his decent limited-overs cricket against Proteas, we are expecting spinner Akila Dhananjaya to take one wicket or more in this opening [email protected].

Tip 2- Janneman Malan will be looking to continue his excellent form 

After consistently doing well for South Africa in white-ball cricket, the opening batsman will be looking to maintain his standards with the bat on the slow and low pitches in Sri Lanka.

Since Jan 2021, Janneman Malan has been the most consistent performer for South Africa in limited-overs cricket. The 25-year old has topped the batting charts for South Africa during this period with 331 runs at an average of 165.50. Given his excellent performance in the past couple of years, we are expecting opener Janneman Malan to score 50 runs or [email protected].

Conclusion

Expect South Africa to register a comfortable win over Sri Lanka in the series opener at Colombo.

1. Spinner Akila Dhananjaya to pick one wicket or more- Sri Lanka @3.50
2. Opener Janneman Malan to score 50 runs or more- South [email protected]

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