Windies Have Six Appeal In Visakhapatnam

Some bookmakers have seen the light and worked out that the West Indies are likely to score more sixes than India in the Second One Day International between the contrasting teams but, thankfully, some bookmakers are still in the dark.

Former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd steered bookmakers in the right direction a couple of days before the First One Day International between the sides, slamming the Caribbean cricketers who have followed in his footsteps for being drunk on Twenty20 cricket. The gist of Lloyd’s strident criticism was that the current generation of West Indies batsmen play too many unconventional shots, try to hit the ball out of the park too much and do not value their wicket.

Lloyd thought that the West Indies would struggle in their First One Day International against India and he was right. Batting first, the West Indies played carelessly from the second ball – Chris Gayle was run out without scoring – to be all out for 211 runs with seven balls left unused. India cruised to a six-wicket victory with 88 balls up its sleeve.

Note that India cruised to victory because it is important with regards to betting on the Second One Day International, which will take place at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam. Whereas the West Indies tried to hit India’s bowlers for six after six after six, the Indians were a lot more conservative in their approach to accumulating runs. The West Indies scored seven sixes in their disappointing innings and, tellingly, five individuals contributed to their tally. India replied with three sixes because its batsmen have a different mindset to those of the West Indies, which is precisely to what Lloyd was alluding.

India did not match Australia in the sixes department in the One Day International series that preceded this one and, if anything, the West Indies batsmen are more six happy than their Australian counterparts. Winner is offering odds of 2.20 that the West Indies score more sixes than India in the Second One Day International and that is a terrific bet. It does not matter that the West Indies are massive underdogs in betting on the match result. Bookmakers such as Winner that believe that the West Indies cannot be the match underdogs and the sixes favourites are simply wrong.

Only the heaviest of hitters will be interested in backing India to win the Second One Day International, with the home team trading at odds of 1.29 with William Hill. But India does look like a good thing because the West Indies are in disarray.

India has won all four One Day International games staged at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam. A statistic that may be of interest to exotic punters is that each of those four One Day International matches has featured at least one century. MS Dhoni scored 148 runs off 123 balls versus Pakistan in 2005. Chamara Silva scored 107 runs off the same number of balls in 2007 and, in the same game, Yuvraj Singh was five runs away from a ton when the match ended. Michael Clarke (111 runs off 139 balls) and Virat Kohli (118 runs off 121 balls) registered centuries in 2010. And Kohli bagged another ton in 2011 by scoring 117 runs off 123 balls. Rohit Sharma scored an unbeaten 90 runs in that game as well. So the ground has a history of centuries.

Ladbrokes is offering odds of 1.83 that the Second One Day International between India and the West Indies features at least one ton. The history books suggest that there is a bet to be struck but, having made the case for the West Indies being frivolous with their wickets, it would be silly to recommend betting at odds on. After all, it would seem that one would be betting on India getting the job done since the West Indies do not have the patience. Stick with the bet on the West Indies scoring more sixes than their opponents.