Most cricketing pundits including us backed the West Indies to win this three match T20 series 3-0. The betting odds were massively in favour of the West Indies as they were playing at home and were playing a Sri Lankan squad that is looking to find its feet once again in international cricket.
The West Indies won the first T20 in commanding fashion but Sri Lanka surprised the West Indies and a lot of bettors by bouncing back in the second T20 and winning by 43 runs. The series now tied at 1-1, making the final T20 a series decider.
If you are looking to bet on the final T20 game which takes place on 08 March in Coolidge, you can do so at any of the following sites below.
Betting Odds For Third T20
West Indies continue to be the favorites with odds of 1.30 to win while Sri Lanka remain the underdogs with odds of 3.50. Before we share our predictions on who we think will win the third T20 and the series, let us give you an analysis of what we think must happen for each side to win.
What West Indies Must Do To Win
West Indies have done well with the ball in the first T20 games. Sri Lanka could only manage 131 in the first T20 and it wasn’t good enough for their bowlers to defend. The West Indies stumbled a bit in that chase but their captain Kieron Pollard made 38 and steered them home.
The West Indies lost the second T20 because Sri Lanka got to a decent total of 160 and it proved to be too much for the West Indies to chase down as they could only get to 117. The West Indies clearly need to work on their batting to win the third T20.
The West Indies need their big runs to fire at the top of the order. Lendl Simmons and Evan Lewis are big hitters at the top of the order but they are struggling because Sri Lanka are using their spinners to open the bowling knowing that both openers struggle with spin.
West Indies need to come up with a strategy to counter this plan and it might be promoting Chris Gayle back to open the innings for the third ODI and shuffling the batting order. It could also mean getting the captain to bat at 3 as he is one of the best players of spin in the West Indies line up.
What Sri Lanka Must Do To Win
Sri Lanka needs to put in another collective effort with the bat and get to a total of 160 or more especially if they bat first. What Sri Lanka have done well is to exploit the weakness that the West Indies batsman have towards spin bowling. Their spinners picked up 7 wickets between them in the second T20 and they will look to tie down the West Indies once again in the third T20.
They need a few more runs in the middle order and that means the experienced D Chandimal and captain Angelo Matthews need to step up in the third T20.
Our Prediction
While Sri Lanka has shown that they can compete with the West Indies, we are going to back the Caribbean Kings to bounce back and win the third T20 and take the series 2-1.
India vs. England T20 Series
If you are looking to bet on the upcoming India vs. England T20 series, you can do so below. We will give you the betting odds and our predictions for this series in the next article.
