Spent way too long deciding on today’s Best Bet and I’ve got shit loads to do. I was tempted by backing Afghanistan at 20/1 in the outright market given the pundits on the Betfair podcast have been raving about their chances.
Ed Hawkins said in his latest piece that they are the best team in the tournament. Interesting.
My current approach of being selective and investing 10% of my pot each day doesn’t really tie in with big prices and outright betting so I’ve taken a different approach and backed Afghanistan to win Group C.
They are currently top of the group with an excellent net run rate after thrashing New Zealand. West Indies are the favourites at 10/11 but they face the Kiwi’s today and then the top 2 still have to play each other.
History in Guyana
Afghanistan beats New Zealand by 84 Runs in T20 World Cup for the First Time in History .
What a Day For Afghanistan Cricket.#cricket #AFGvNZ pic.twitter.com/UN9w8t9zRO
— Talk Before Wicket (@TalkB4Wicket) June 8, 2024
The interesting thing in this tournament is that places in the next round are determined by seedings and not where a team finishes in the Group. So basically it doesn’t matter if a team finishes 1st or 2nd in the group, they will still go into the same slot in the next round.
What does this mean? If West Indies beat New Zealand today then the outcome of the final game is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter if they beat Afghanistan or not, so they may rest players. That could be the case for both teams but you’d like to think the underdogs would be keen for an upset.
Regardless of all the permutations this looks a good bet at 15/8.
Bet: Afghanistan to win Group C in the T20 World Cup – 2pts – 2.88 (15/8)
