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Australia vs Afghanistan betting tips:
- Travis Head to score 50 runs or more – 5/4 bet365
- Mohammed Nabi to take two or more wickets – 6/5 Betway
- Australia to have highest opening partnership – 4/6 BetGoodwin
Australia can book a semi-finals place at the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup by defeating Afghanistan on Tuesday in Mumbai.
The Aussies ended England’s reign as holders with a 33-run win in the clash at Ahmedabad.
Marnus Labuschagne anchored Australia’s innings by scoring 71 before Marcus Stoinis and Adam Zampa fired quick runs to propel Pat Cummins’ team to a total of 286.
Jonny Bairstow summed up England’s World Cup performance as he fell to the first ball of the chase.
Ben Stokes and Dawid Malan offered resistance with half-centuries, but Zampa produced a fine display with three for 21 to guide Australia to a comfortable victory.
Australia now have their sights set firmly on the last four and their odds to win the World Cup have been slashed with UK bookmakers.
But, Afghanistan have been the surprise package at the tournament and will not make life easy on Australia.
They have eased past Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Netherlands in the last three matches and have given themselves a great chance of qualifying for the semi-final stage.
A victory over the Aussies would lift Afghanistan above New Zealand into fourth place in the standings ahead of the final group game.
After looking at the Cricket World Cup odds, here are our predictions for the contest.
Head to lead the way
Travis Head enjoyed himself on his comeback from injury against New Zealand, blasting 109 from only 67 balls in a knock that included 10 fours and seven sixes.
Head’s innings was vital in the end as the Aussies only edged out the Black Caps by five runs in a tight contest. But, he took a step back against England, falling for only 11 to Chris Woakes.
It is the nature of opening the innings in white-ball cricket that you can either get off to a flyer or a get a good ball that costs you your wicket.
Head has been a key player for Australia since his recall to the ODI and T20 side in 2022. In the 50-over game, he has been extremely reliable at the top of the order, notching three centuries and five fifties in 18 innings.
It means he posts a score over 50 every other innings, and given he had a failure last time out, the chances are that Head will post a meaningful score against Afghanistan.
We’re taking him to score 50 runs or more at 5/4 with bet365.
Reliable Nabi to control Aussie line-up
Afghanistan have given themselves a chance of reaching the semi-finals by playing complementary cricket. Their batters have been on point to chase down totals, while the bowlers have kept the runs off the board for the majority of games.
Hashmatullah Shahidi has not had to rely on one bowler for his wickets as the entire attack have operated at a high standard throughout the tournament.
The unit have taken it in turns to produce the goods with the ball, although Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan are their highest wicket-takers with seven strikes each.
One bowler that gets overshadowed by Khan is former skipper Mohammed Nabi. The 38-year-old has taken six wickets at an average of 33.16 so far, but perhaps more notably he has kept the runs off the board with an economy rate of 4.02.
That will be important against the Aussies to build pressure. He claimed two wickets against England by keeping runs off the board and we’re backing him to do the same against Australia at odds of 6/5 with Betway.
Tip: Mohammed Nabi to take two or more wickets – 6/5 Betway
Strong starts key for both teams
As we’ve touched on before with the importance of Head for Australia, the opening partnership will be key for both teams in Mumbai.
In their wins over leading sides at the tournament, Afghanistan enjoyed strong starts with the bat as their opening partnership mustered 130 against Pakistan and 114 facing England.
Australia too have profited when their first wicket has scored over 100 runs, with the combination of David Warner and Head/Mitchell Marsh.
The Aussies will need to put on quick runs at the top of the order to avoid getting bogged down by the Afghanistan spinners during the middle overs of the innings.
They don’t have a great deal of power remaining in the line-up amid an injury to Glenn Maxwell and Marsh’s absence. So, the pressure will be on Head and Warner to capitalise against the mercurial Afghan seamers to put them ahead in the game.
With our final bet, we’re taking Australia to have the highest opening stand at odds of 4/6 with BetGoodwin.
Tip: Australia to have highest opening partnership – 4/6 BetGoodwin
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Last Updated: 14th March 2024, 07:22 AM
