Why there’s no value in backing India as World T20 favourites
Published:
It’s easy to see why India are rated as 2/1 favourites for the T20 World Cup.
Officially ranked as the number one side in the format, playing with the advantage of home conditions and with an outstanding reel of form behind them, MS Dhoni’s men are clearly the ones to beat.
However, in the shortest form of the game beating the best is a whole lot easier than in Test matches and ODIs.
Having lost only once in 11 T20Is since the start of 2016, India went into their first warm up game with South Africa in an obviously confident mood.
Faced with a Protea outfit without AB De Villiers, Dhoni’s men lost by four runs chasing 196 despite having seven wickets in hand towards the end of the innings.
That is a microscopic example of how volatile the T20 game is and although it can be argued that warm up loss isn’t worth much in the grand scheme of an international tournament, form can be very quickly lost in the fast-paced world of 20-over cricket.
Weather conditions in India are also far from ideal at the moment. The rain has already put paid to Ireland’s involvement in the tournament having seen their qualifying game with Bangladesh get washed out and it only takes a couple of rain-affected outings to make progression in the tournament a difficult task.
That isn’t factored in to India’s price of 2/1, and plays a large part in siding towards other Test-playing nations at a larger odds.
Pakistan, West Indies, New Zealand and Sri Lanka are all capable of winning the tournament – in fact three of them already have – yet are all priced up at 10/1, with the Sri Lankans at 20s.
In the chasing pack closer to India, Australia are second favourites at 9/2, South Africa are 5s and Eoin Morgan’s England can be backed at 13/2.
With India so far ahead in the market, any one of those sides rate as good value plays.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
