India vs Sri Lanka 1st Test Betting Tips 04/03/2022

March 3, 2022

Zohaib Ahmed, Senior Author

The 1^st Test between India and Sri Lanka will be played from March 4 (Friday) at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh. The match is to begin at 9:30am IST.

Teams Status

India

The first Test is of significance at multiple levels. Not only would it be India’s first under permanent leadership of new skipper Rohit Sharma, it would be the 100^th Test of former captain Virat Kohli’s legendary career.

India have never lost a Test match at home to Sri Lanka – a record Sharma would like to and likely extend. Of the 20 Tests played between these two sides in India, the home side has won 11 while the rest of the nine ended in draws.

India have dropped Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Ishant Sharma and Wriddhiman Saha for this series, while Axar Patel, Washington Sundar and KL Rahul are unfit. In their place, Ravindra Jadeja, Saurabh Kumar and Kuldeep Yadav have been brought back.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka have a massive challenge ahead of them, which is to survive against the scary Indian bowling unit. Captain Dimuth Karunaratne is of course the most well equipped to deal with what the Indians hurl at his team.

He will have some help in Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews but the pair are not quite what they used to be in their prime, which means other would need to step up.

The islanders’ fate would of course depend on how they deal with Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja on a Mohali pitch that reportedly will have a lot of help for spinners.

What Do the Sportsbooks Say?

India	Draw	Sri Lanka
1.14	8.0	14.50
1.14	8.0	14.50
1.19	7.8	13.5

India are big favourites for the 1^st Test. Parimatch and Sportsbet have India priced at 1.14, Sri Lanka at 14.50 and Draw at 8.0. Paripesa has India available for 1.19, Sri Lanka for 13.5 and Draw for 7.8.

Tipster’s Angle

Tip: Pathum Nissanka to score under 21.5 runs @ 1.87

Pathum Nissanka is an excellent batter and will be a cornerstone of Sri Lankan batting but we do not expect him to pass the final frontier in India in the very first go. He will eventually produce as his familiarity with conditions grow but we expect his first Test outing in India to be short-lived. The odds have been sourced from Parimatch.

Tip: Mayank Agarwal to score more than 30.5 runs @ 1.87

In India’s last Test series at home, which was against world champions New Zealand, Mayank Agarwal scored 242 runs at an average of 60.50. He was the team’s top scorer too. Therefore, we think that against easier opponents, Sri Lanka, he would again shine. The odds have been sourced from Parimatch.

Conclusion

It goes without saying that this is a massive mismatch. Only a miracle of major proportions would let Sri Lanka avoid a whitewash in this series.

Zohaib Ahmed

20:43, 3 Mar 2022

Senior Author

Zohaib Ahmed

Senior Author

20:43, 3 Mar 2022

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.