Pakistan vs Sri Lanka | 1st Test, day 3 - match prediction
Sri Lanka will resume their innings from 263/6 on Day 3 of the first Test against Pakistan at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi.
Not even 60 balls were delivered on Day 2 of the first Test match, but rain does not spoil our party though. The game might end in a draw, but the punters will always have an opportunity to grab some easy money in the blink of an eye. Read through my analysis and you will know how.
Experienced Azhar Ali in good form
Azhar Ali to be Pakistan’s top batman @ 4.50
No other Pakistani Test batsman has been as consistent as Azhar Ali in the past decade, which clearly reflects in his statistics. Sporting an average over 42.45, he has been head and shoulders above his compatriots and has been the lone star even when the team has been miserable. That brings us to this bet, where the current skipper is in the best position to exploit the Sri Lankan bowling attack in the first Test. His head to head record against Sri Lanka has been impeccable, with an average of 48.16 (15 Tests), which includes 5 centuries and 5 fifties with a top score of 157. His scores in the last three innings against the Lankans in the first innings read 59, 85 and 26 and he was also the top scorer twice.
On the other hand, Babar Azam, the next possible contender for being the top scorer in the first innings, has misfired when playing against the Asian rivals with an average of 9.75 and a high score of 28. Asad Shafiq, though having scored a century versus Sri Lanka in the last Test, has been inconsistent with scores of 12, 39 and 27 prior to that. Meanwhile, Haris Sohail has only played three matches against Sri Lanka, which makes it impossible to judge him.
Tough start expected for Perera
Next batsman to get out – Dilruwan Perera @ 1.61
Dhananjaya De Silva has played a pivotal role in the Test match for Sri Lanka so far and has hung around at the crease for more than two hours with 72 runs to his name. It has been historically seen that when he scores big, he is a tough customer to be dismissed. In the last Test match, he was the last man out after scoring a hard-fought 109-run against New Zealand. There has also been two other occasions where he was the last man out after playing a big knock. With 28 runs shy of the three-digit mark, I am pretty sure he is going to sail to his 6th century.
Even though Dilruwan Perera has been a handy batter in the lower order, it does not help his cause since he is out of form with the bat of late, with scores of 0, 13, 4, 10 and 8 in his last 5 innings. His average of 20.18 against Pakistan is not impressive at all and he boasts a high score of 42 against the hosts. With the morning hour set to help the Pakistani bowlers to some extent, it is unlikely that he is going to bat long than the De Silva, who is already set at the crease. So, do not hesitate to place this bet.
After rain comes a lot of runs
Over 2.5 runs to be scored in the 88th over @ 1.66
After a rain-curtailed Day 1, not even 10 overs were bowled on the second day and the match is now headed towards a draw. With 263 runs on the board for the loss of 6 wickets, Sri Lanka is still not in a position to declare the innings, and putting some quick runs will help their cause. With a set batsman at the crease, that’s quite possible. The intent was visible even in the last five overs of Day 2, where they piled on 25 runs at a run rate of 5 per over. And guess what? there was a boundary in 4 out of those 5 overs! If we look at how the visitors fared in the opening overs, it will actually help us a lot. On Day 1 and Day 2, they managed to put on 9 runs and 4 runs respectively. It proves the fact that the Lankan batsmen have been able to play freely from the word go. In the first five overs of Day 2, Sri Lanka managed to maintain a run rate of 3.2 and with a certain degree of urgency on Friday morning, an accumulation of 3 runs in the opening over seems inevitable. There’s no other option but to place this bet.
