T20 World Cup 2024: India vs Ireland Best Bets

Wednesday’s only T20 World Cup game will see the tournament favourites, India take on Ireland at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York. We have a betting preview and the best bets to take for this game.

Venue: Nassau County International Cricket Stadium

Betting Preview

India, the inaugural T20 World Cup champions in 2007, have yet to reach those heights again. Despite boasting the best win rate in the tournament group stages, they’ve consistently stumbled later. This year, young talents like Jaiswal wait for their chance, with Kohli rediscovering his touch after a fantastic IPL campaign with RCB.

Ireland, on the other hand, are rarely seen in the company of giants. They’ve faced the “Big 3” of India, England, and Australia a mere 11 times in T20s, with a solitary win against England in the 2022 World Cup. Led by Paul Sterling, they dream of upsetting Pakistan and securing a Super 8s berth. While games against Canada and the USA seem winnable on paper, a strong showing against India would be a massive confidence booster. Don’t underestimate them – despite the lopsided 0-7 record in T20Is against India, Ireland are hungry for recognition, especially back home where rugby and football dominate the sporting landscape.

The tournament favourites, India will have too much quality for the Irish so backing them to win this game is a no-brainer.

Players to Watch: One of the biggest positives coming out of the warm-up win over Bangladesh for India is Shivam Dube’s bowling (2/13 off three overs). While his towering sixes will be eagerly awaited, his bowling duties could give an extra bowling choice for captain Rohit.

From the other dugout, the Irish captain Paul Stirling would be sweating over his bowling choices and his own batting form against India. Stirling has four single-digit scores, including two ducks, in six T20I H2Hs. Each single-digit score saw him lose his wicket to an Indian pacer.

Prediction: India to win at 1.05.

Key Stats

Five of the last six T20Is between these sides were won by India when they batted first, with the victory margin being 33 runs or more on three occasions.

In the IPL 2024 tournament, Kohli hit 62 boundaries and 38 sixes in 15 innings, which put him in the top three in both counts.

Rohit Sharma has scores of 52*, 97, and 0 (latest) against Ireland in T20Is.

Kuldeep Yadav has figures of 4 for 21 and 3 for 16 in his two T20I H2Hs, aiming for an impactful T20I World Cup debut.

Andrew Balbirnie (156 runs, six innings) has the most runs by any batter in the H2H T20Is. He has scored at least 35 in three of his last six T20Is against any side, twice ending up as the ‘Player of the match.

Irish left-arm pacer Josh Little took 4 for 45 in his only IPL match this season and has taken seven wickets in his last three T20I World Cup matches, twice ending as their highest wicket-taker of the match.

Best Bets

Best Bet: Paul Stirling to score under 20.5 runs at 1.86.

Alternative Bet: Virat Kohli to score 50+ runs at 2.75.

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