T20 World Cup India v Pakistan: Latest Odds & Analysis

India v Pakistan predictions: 

• Virat Kohli 30+ runs - 2.1 @ 22Bet Sports
• Rohit Sharma under 21.5 runs - 1.83 @ 22Bet Sports
• Haris Rauf 2+ wickets - 2.75 @ 22Bet Sports

When: Sunday 8 June, 8:00pm IST

Where: Nassau County International Stadium, New York

Watch: Star Sports and Disney+ Hotstar

Best Odds: India 1.40, Pakistan 3.10

Followers of our 2024 T20 World Cup best bets blog would have thoroughly enjoyed India’s opening match of this tournament when all three of our selections were successful, returning readers a profit of more than 80%!

Moving onwards and upwards, the most highly anticipated match of each World and Asia Cup - perhaps even more so than the final itself - headlines the second Sunday of the competition.

India boasts a 6-1 record over their archrival Pakistan in T20 World Cups - the only exception being a famous ten-wicket drubbing during the 2021 edition in Dubai - and the first outings of both sides in 2024 suggests India’s domination of this matchup will continue.

In response to Pakistan’s humiliating and historic loss to the USA on Thursday, Indian cricket betting sites have further wound in India’s already unattractive odds to win this match in New York.

The Indian side has also enjoyed the luxury of spending a week already in New York, training their backsides off on the practice wickets and also using a comfortable demolition of Ireland to get used to a difficult surface. 

The Numbers That Matter

• Arshdeep Singh averages ten balls per wicket (nine from 91) on American soil
• Fakhar Zaman averages 122 in white ball cricket against India’s bowling attack v Ireland
• Hardik Pandya took 3 wickets in three of his five T20Is vs Pakistan
• Mohammad Rizwan scored 40+ in three of his four T20Is vs India

Kohli the king of this mammoth matchup

• Kohli scored 35+ in eight of ten innings against Pakistan across five different countries

A terrible shot selection on an unpredictable pitch got Virat Kohli’s T20 World Cup campaign off to a terrible start and it’s unlikely that a man of his intelligence and class will make the same mistake again, especially in a match of this stature.

Virat knows better than anyone in the entire history of T20Is between the nations about how to stand up and make an impact in the world’s most high-profile cricket rivalry.

His 488 runs from ten T20Is against Pakistan is more than double the next best and it comes courtesy of five half-centuries - an incredible rate of 50%.

We’re looking at taking the more conservative play of Kohli to score 30+ runs to account for the difficulties of the pitch. 

He cleared 35+ runs in eight of those ten innings against Pakistan, taking place in five different countries, whilst he averages an astounding 162 in T20Is against the bowling attack Pakistan used against the USA.

Prediction: Virat Kohli 30+ runs - 2.1 @ 22Bet Sports

On the other hand…

It may be a foolish move to ignore Rohit Sharma’s belligerent 52* against Ireland, but hear us out: Pakistan has been one of his most troublesome oppositions over a 17-year history in the T20 format.

A 30* on head-to-head debut at the 2007 World Twenty20 remains his best score against Pakistan in T20Is. 

Cricket betting apps have set him an over/under mark of 21.5 runs for this match, which probably also has the difficulty of the New York pitch priced into it.

Whilst he got past 21.5 runs on two further occasions against Pakistan - 24 in 2014 and 28 in 2022 - he averages a lowly 14.25 across a period of ten innings.

It’s worth noting that, from 12 innings in T20 World Cups since the start of 2021, Rohit’s five scores of 30+ runs came against some pretty lowly oppositions: Ireland, Netherlands, Namibia, Scotland and Afghanistan.

His personal head-to-head figures against Pakistan’s four speedsters (Shaheen Shah Afridi 3-52, Haris Rauf 2-12, Mohammad Amir 2-1, Naseem Shah 0-13) also makes for ugly reading. 

Many of the numbers are stacking up against him here, so we like the ‘under’ option.

Prediction: Rohit Sharma under 21.5 runs - 1.83 @ 22Bet Sports

Here’s hoping Haris is the one to get his wicket!

Haris Rauf bowled all four of his overs beyond the powerplay, failing to defend 14 runs in the 20th over (no thanks to a dropped catch from his colleague Shaheen), so if he is the one to remove Rohit it’s probably too late as far as our previous play is concerned!

But should he do so, we could be halfway to a handsome collect after confidently backing him in to bounce back against India with a multiple wicket haul.

Rauf’s medium-term form is promising: he picked off 2+ wickets in five of his last seven T20Is which were all played in seam-friendly countries such as New Zealand, England and the USA.

His back-of-a-length deliveries could be a handful if variable bounce comes into play once again in New York.

Combine that with his 2-36 against India in the 2022 T20 World Cup and a bowling average of 25 (4-100) against India’s previous top eight, and the price of 2.75 looks appealing. 

Prediction: Haris Rauf 2+ wickets - 2.75 @ 22Bet Sports