Asia Cup 2021 Betting Guide

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Popular Online Asia Cup 2021 Betting Markets

The following are the most popular markets for Asia Cup betting:

Asia Cup Betting: Outright Winner

This is a straight bet on the overall winner of the tournament, also known as To Lift the Cup. Odds for this market generally fluctuate depending on results, although other factors, such as unexpected absences, withdrawals and/or forfeitures, can make an impact.

Best Asia Cup betting site for Outright Winner: 1xBet

Asia Cup Betting: Match Winner

Known as moneyline wagering in the US, betting on the winner of the match may seem straightforward, but other markets can be combined with it to boost the potential payout. This includes some of the niche markets listed below.

ODI matches settled with a super over are considered to be drawn unless otherwise stated. Certain flashpoint events, such as a wicket falling or a boundary hit, can cause more drastic fluctuations that will affect in-play moneyline markets on in-play betting sites.

In the case of knockout games, backing a team to qualify or, in the case of a grand final, lift the cup, covers both a regular win and a super over win, but this will invariably command shorter odds (and a lower payout) than the moneyline market for a straight win.

Best Asia Cup betting site for Match Winner: 18bet

Asia Cup Betting: Top Team Batsman

A wager on the batsman that will attain the highest run tally for his team. This can be an outright (for the top team batsman across a whole tournament) or a matchday market. For this market, studying the form of individual players in recent matches can be very helpful.

Best Asia Cup betting site for Top Team Batsman: Royal Panda

Asia Cup Betting: Top Team Bowler

The top team bowler generally refers to the player that dismisses the most opposing batsmen, either in an individual match or across the whole tournament, with their ‘economy’ (runs conceded divided by overs bowled) used as a tiebreaker. Backing a player to record the best bowling economy may also be a possibility itself.

Best Asia Cup betting site for Top Team Bowler: bet365

Asia Cup Betting: Most Sixes

This addresses whoever strikes the most sixes in one game or a whole tournament, and is a particularly prominent feature of T20I action. A ‘6’ (six runs) is scored when the ball is struck clean over the boundary without bouncing or being caught. In the event of two or more batsmen being tied on the high number, the batsman facing the fewest balls may be considered the winner.

Best Asia Cup betting site for Most Sixes: ComeOn!

Asia Cup Betting: 1st Wicket Fall Method

This is an exciting and unpredictable market where people wager on how the first batsman will be dismissed. There are usually three ways this can happen:

1. A batsman’s strike from a fair delivery is ‘caught out’ in mid-air by a fielder or wicket-keeper.
2. The batsman is ‘bowled out’ after a bowler or fielder hits the stumps and causes the bails atop them to fall off.
3. LBW (Leg Before Wicket): Without touching the ball with his bat, a batsman uses his leg to block a fair delivery that will hit the wicket.

Best Asia Cup betting site for 1st Wicket Method: bet365

Asia Cup Betting: Batsman to Score a Century / Fifty

This is a wager on a certain player to exceed 50 or 100 runs in a single match or innings.

Best Asia Cup betting site for Batsman to Score a Century / Fifty: 1xBet

Asia Cup Betting: Highest Opening Partnership

Bettors select two players to get the highest score among all possible combinations. To simplify this process, sportsbooks offering this market will have pre-set combinations to choose from. The favourites will always have a rich history of high-scoring partnerships at international level.

Best Asia Cup betting site for Highest Opening Partnership: 1xBet

Asia Cup Betting: Man of the Match

The Man of the Match is picked for various reasons, although high scores or good bowling figures invariably contribute to the final call here.

Asia Cup 2021 – Betting Odds, Tips and Predictions

Outright odds for the Asia Cup 2021 will be published here closer to the time of the tournament’s launch in June 2021.

Outright Winner

Using odds for previous tournaments as a guide, India will be favourites to win the tournament, with Pakistan and Sri Lanka close behind. As hosts, Sri Lanka will have the edge in being second-favourites with most bookmakers prior to the tournament’s start. Bangladesh will be a comfortable fourth in the outright stakes, with Afghanistan being much more distant outsiders, despite reaching the Super Four in the last edition (2018).

Top Batsman

India’s Virat Kohli, who captains in the Test format, provides a good sense of balance and variety within the whole squad. A determined leader, he's set to enter the 2021 Asia Cup high on confidence, especially after completing 12,000 ODI runs back in December 2020. Without his services, every one of the best cricket betting sites out there would immediately lengthen the odds against India winning any tournament.

Top Bowler

India’s Jasprit Bumrah should come out on top here. He can bowl at over 145 kph on a regular basis, and his ‘yorkers’ are the fear of even the most battle-hardened batsmen.

Most Sixes

T20I captain Rohit Sharma is a batsman who only knows how to hit big – anything less than a four after a swing would be viewed as a huge disappointment. He's considered by many to be the best opening batsman of his generation in the white-ball format, and his consistency will be vital towards India making good on their expected status as pre-tournament favorites.

The Latest Asia Cup News

We'll provide Asia Cup news updates on this page closer to the time of the tournament.

The Asia Cup 2021 Squad Lists

Afghanistan

Batsmen

How Is the Asia Cup Structured?

The 2021 Asia Cup will consist of 11 separate T20 matches, in which each of the five teams plays the other once. The eleventh game is the final, contested between the two teams that are top of the standings after the ten round-robin games.

Asia Cup 2021 Schedule

History of the Asia Cup

Though the number of teams involved isn't as substantial as some fans feel it could be, the Asia Cup is one of the top cricket tournaments in the world.

The first Asia Cup was held in 1984, shortly after the formation of the Asian Cricket Council, which sought to codify international tournaments on the continent. Though the inaugural tournament was held in the UAE, only three teams – India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan – participated. Each faced the other once, with India being crowned champions after winning both games. India won the closing match by 54 runs, with Surinder Khanna recording a half-century against Pakistan (56, c Dalpat b Nazar).

The following edition saw Sri Lanka win on home turf, but critics maintain that India’s withdrawal, and replacement by debutants Bangladesh, played a part in that. India duly won the following three editions, but Sri Lanka built on their 1996 World Cup triumph by winning three of the four tournaments held between 1997 and 2008. They did so twice on home turf and lastly in Pakistan, who, in 2000, won the other tournament among that quartet. Pakistan would win again in 2012.

With three of the last five Asia Cup tournaments being won by India, they've set the bar in recent times, coinciding with the growth of T20 as a recognised format, as well as the development of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the subsequent rise of IPL betting online.

Past Winners of the Asia Cup

Most Asia Cup Titles

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Asia Cup Teams

India

India will be considered an even surer outright bet than usual, given how easily they won the 2016 T20I format Asia Cup. Armed with some of the IPL’s greatest talents, India beat a respected T20I side in Bangladesh in the Asia Cup final of that year by eight wickets (122/2), with just 13.5 overs played in their innings.

Thanks to the growth of IPL, India are the undisputed masters of white-ball cricket in the eastern hemisphere. Their philosophy is one of striking hard, fast, and early, setting up unassailable tallies for opponents to chase. This attitude can only favour them in the more boundary-focused T20 format set to be used in 2021, as opposed to ODI format.

India also won the last Asia Cup tournament to be hosted by Sri Lanka, and there are widely held expectations of a final involving these two nations. In addition to the word of those providing the best cricket predictions in the world, their recent T20 record against Sri Lanka also grows in significance. Notably, they've won ten T20I matches out of the last 11 played against Sri Lanka to yield a firm result.

Sri Lanka

By winning five of the previous 14 Asia Cup editions, Sri Lanka have a defined culture of success in this tournament. Their last tournament win was in 2014, with a close-fought five-wicket victory over a determined Pakistan in the final. They won with 19 balls to spare, despite recording the most runs conceded by any winning ODI-format Asia Cup finalist facing a full set of 50 overs.

If Sri Lanka find themselves in a similar knife-edge battle in the final, then faultless bowling will be their key to victory, especially if expectations of India’s batsmen lying in wait become a reality. The leadership of T20I captain Lasith Malinga would be a big asset in that scenario, with his right-arm fast bowling style often able to neutralise the top order before they build serious momentum. His distinct angle of delivery, though met with controversy in the past, makes him a genuine menace in both types of limited overs cricket.

Other all-round figures of reliability are Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Matthews. Chandimal is a former T20 World Cup runner-up, and was his team’s top batsman in both innings of Sri Lanka’s 2017/18 India tour. Meanwhile, Matthews currently holds the highest Individual Test score among Sri Lanka's active international players, after recording 200 runs against Zimbabwe back in January 2020. He, too, shone in the 2017/18 tour of India, ending the second ODI 111 not out.

Pakistan

Players and coaches aside, few but the most ardent Pakistani cricket fans believe they can win in 2021. Yet there are some surviving members of the 2012 Asia Cup-winning squad who haven't lost the winning touch, and will now utilise every trick in the book. Opposing teams will, in particular, underestimate Pakistan’s fielding setup at their peril, with their discipline in that department enabling them to produce some shock results. Among their most recent examples is the 2019 World Cup win over eventual champions England on their own turf.

If Pakistan are to attain a surprise trophy win, there are certain players who will undoubtedly play a role. Two in particular stand out, the first of whom is Babar Azam, who has been a near-unstoppable force over the past two years since a breakthrough Test century in November 2018. The other is Mohammad Rizwan, who can claim to be perhaps the world’s best wicket-keeper on his day. He can also bat, with one of his more recent standout performances being a haul of 95 runs in the second Test innings at Brisbane in Pakistan’s 2019/20 tour of Australia.

Bangladesh

Since the tournament’s expansion to (usually) accommodate a group stage, Bangladesh have consistently finished in the top four. They've finished as runners-up in three of the last four editions, last doing so in the UAE, a very different environment to their own turf, upon which their other runners-up finishes were attained.

That ability to come close on foreign soil proves Bangladesh’s versatility under more recent regimes. Such versatility is particularly embodied by the likes of Mahmudullah Riyad, with his off-spin bowling methods giving Bangladesh a degree of unpredictability, which can prove pivotal in white-ball action.

A master of seeing out ODI matches, Riyad is the first Bangladeshi cricketer to score a century in the World Cup. Tamim Iqbal is a worthy rival to Riyad for the top batsman accolade in any T20I game, known to aim for big scores regardless of the situation. In the limited-overs format, his personal accolade came in January 2018, when he became the first Bangladeshi batsman to reach 7,000 runs in ODIs.

Afghanistan

Although rank outsiders, Afghanistan shouldn't be underestimated, having made the Super Four in their last Asia Cup appearance. It was also the first time they ended an edition of the Asia Cup with an equal win/loss record, implying their ability to mix it in this tournament is growing steadily. In December 2020, Afghanistan also had the honour of one of their own, Rashid Khan, being named T20 player of the decade.

On the downside, however, they are, as of January 2021, winless in T20I matches against any of the three participants in the inaugural Asia Cup. Naturally, this strengthens expectations that the gap between Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, and the rest of the field will remain as substantial as ever for the foreseeable future.

As of January 2021, Afghanistan’s T20I captain is Asghar Afghan, who has over a decade of international cricketing experience under his belt. He's also the second-ever Afghanistan international cricketer to play in 100 ODI matches, and provides a solid all-round service to his nation as they continue to battle mountainous odds.

Other Popular Cricket Tournaments for Betting

At international level, the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is the defining tournament of T20I format cricket. Its popularity has grown due to the speed at which matches are played and resolved, allowing for a tournament that is compact, competitive, and easily expanded upon. Some individual international series, including Asian nations, also enjoy a huge degree of attention in the buildup to them starting, such as Pakistan vs South Africa and India vs Sri Lanka.

In terms of its packaging, the Caribbean Premier League blends club and international contexts, with international identities (via teams such as the Trinbago Knight Riders and the Barbados Tridents) employed in a format much more reminiscent of a league championship. This makes it a very unique tournament that never fails to attract bettors.

In addition to the IPL, club-level tournaments such as the Vitality T20 Blast (England), the Pakistan Super League and the Big Bash League (Australia) remain as popular as ever.

Asia Cup Betting FAQs

When is the Asia Cup 2021?

The Asia Cup 2021 will run between 25 June (with Sri Lanka v Afghanistan) and 4 July.

Which are the best betting sites for the Asia Cup?

Although the odds for the 2021 tournament are yet to be released, sites such as 1xBet, bet365, and ComeOn! have provided some very competitive odds in the past. All of their odds, along with those listed at the very top, are consistently kept up-to-date, and can be used effectively when combined with the operators’ respective special offers.

Which Asia Cup team has won the most titles?

In addition to being the reigning holders, India have won the most titles (seven).

Which teams have never won the Asia Cup?

Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have never won the Asia Cup. Teams that participated in qualifiers, but which have yet to reach the finals, include Hong Kong, Oman, Nepal, and Singapore.

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CricketBettingAdvice Final Words

The 2021 tournament will be the second (after 2016) to employ the T20I format, and it should be noted that India enjoyed one of their most emphatic and comfortable final-day wins in the Asia Cup five years ago. This further justifies India’s anticipated standing as comfortable outright favourites, though plenty of bettors will also be backing Sri Lanka, making this one far from a foregone conclusion.

With Afghanistan’s promotion to full ICC membership being a relatively recent one, only four teams have a realistic chance of winning it. Nevertheless, every Asian player without exception lives for a trophy haul, knowing full well that every trophy lift, regardless of the tournament that preceded it, inspires a new generation of potential cricket stars in their own country.

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