Sri Lanka vs India 1st T20I Betting Tips 25/07/2021

01:33, 25 Jul 2021

Senior Author

01:33, 25 Jul 2021

Zohaib Ahmed is a sports journalist whose profession is to report and edit but whose passion is to predict and bet. He’s been in the industry for more than a decade and has worked/written for various bookmakers/tipsters. His expertise is in cricket, football, MMA, boxing and basketball.

The 1st T20I between Sri Lanka and India will be played at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on July 25 (Sunday). The match is scheduled to begin at 8pm IST.

Teams Status

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka found a consolation victory to end the ODI series with. But before the optimistic fellas go gallivanting hand them any sort of edge for the T20Is, they should know that India were severely handicapped in the ODI series and were missing almost their entire first-choice eleven.

In the T20Is, they will have to battle with the crème de la crème of the Indian Premier League. That task will be made double difficult by the absence of their key duo Danushka Gunathilaka and Wanindu Hasaranga, the former of whom is suspended due to a bubble breach in England and the latter is out injured.

If that wasn’t enough, here is Sri Lanka’s recent T20I record. Of their previous 13 T20Is, they have won just one. The only won they won was against the West Indies on a spin-friendly track in Antigua. This is the area the islanders will be hoping to focus on and exploit. If the home side wants to get anything out of the series, their spinners would likely have to play a very prominent role.

India

While Sri Lanka are scrambling for talent, India have a different problem. They have too much talent and so will be using this series to gauge which of their plethora of options is the best fit for the upcoming T20 World Cup.

One area Sri Lanka still has above average talent in is the spin department. India, too, has plenty of firepower in the area and one new addition is Varun Chakravarthy, who has the ability to mix and match. He can be an asset, provided that his problematic fitness holds up. He is being tipped by some to make his T20I debut in the series opener. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar are expected to be reinstated in the playing eleven after missing the last ODI.

What do the Sportsbook Say

Brand	Sri Lanka	India
	3.20	1.35
	3.00	1.33
	3.30	1.36

India are the favourites in this fixture. 22Bet has India priced at 1.33 and Sri Lanka at 3.0. Dafabet has India available for 1.36 and Sri Lanka for 3.30, whereas MelBet has India priced at 1.35 and Sri Lanka at 3.2.

Tipster’s Angle

Tip: Highest opening partnership – India @ 1.85

Two 28-run stands and a 58-run start is what the pairing of Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw produced in the three ODIs. They clearly were not able to produce anything memorable. That said, on talent alone, they edge whoever Sri Lanka start with. Since picking India outright for the win fetches low odds, this is out compromise bet. This bet can be found at 22Bet.

Shikhar Dhawan to score over 25.5 runs @ 1.87

The stand-in Indian captain started the tour with a decent knock of 86 but has since had two underwhelming outings. Now settled in the conditions and hungry for a big knock, this can be Dhawan’s moment to score big and set India on its way to going 1-0 up in the series.

Conclusion

India are still missing several of their regular T20 stars but they should still be able to put together a decent eleven capable of winning the series.