India vs Sri Lanka 2nd Test Match Prediction

India will play their final Test match of a two-match series against Sri Lanka from the 12th-16th of March, and there are more ICC World Test Championship betting points up for grabs.

India won the first match very easily, and Sri Lanka will now be looking to fight back and at least ensure that they leave India with some valuable points to their name. Will they be able to do that, or will the India cricket team carry on with their winning ways? Read on and you can find our prediction of who will win.

India Team Preview

India won the toss in the first match and decided that they would like to bat first. The openers, Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal got their team off to a steady start, scoring 29 and 33 runs. Hanuma Vihari, who was batting at number three, hit a well-worked 58, while Virat Kohli scored 45 runs batting at number four. Rishabh Pant then came in and scored a quality 96, but the star of the show in the first Test was Ravi Jadeja, who smashed 175 runs from the 228 balls that he faced. Ravi Ashwin then came in and hit a quickfire 61 to help take his team to a huge total of 574/8 declared.

If you are thinking about doing a spot of online cricket betting and want to put money on someone to be India's top scorer in the Test, then we think you should put your money on Pant. Yes, Jadeja top scored in the first Test, but we do not see repeating the feat and have a feeling that Pant will have a great game.

The bowlers had a lot less pressure on them than usual because they had such a big score to defend, and this lack of pressure showed in their bowling performance because they were all quality. Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah picked up two wickets apiece, but Jadeja was also the star of the bowling attack, picking up 5 wickets for 41 runs from the 13 overs that he bowled in Sri Lanka's first innings. The Sri Lankans were asked to follow-on, and Jadeja picked up another four wickets, to finish the match with 175 runs and nine wickets to his name.

If you are going to be making use of cricket betting sites to bet on a market such as the Top Bowler for India, then we would recommend that you put your money on Ashwin. He bowled really well in the first Test, and we would back him to do the same in the second.

What about changes to the playing XI? Well, the playing XI in the first Test did such a good job that it would be a huge surprise if the selectors made any changes to the team.

Sri Lanka Team Preview

Facing a huge total, the Sri Lankans would have been hopeful that their batsmen could put up a bit of a fight and avoid the follow-on at least, but they did not come anywhere close. In their first innings, the only player who made it past 30 was Pathum Nissanka, who scored 61. From the 11 batsmen, there were four ducks and a score of 1 and 2, and when this happens, you are never going to hit a big score.

Having been bowled out for a paltry 174, the game was basically over, but Sri Lanka had pride to play for and would have been hoping to make India work for their win. However, their second innings was pretty much a replica of their first one, with six batsmen failing to make it into double figures. Niroshan Dickwella was the top scorer in this second innings, scoring 51 from 81 balls, but he needed more support from his fellow players.

If we were to make a cricket prediction on who will top score for Sri Lanka in the second Test, who would we bet on? Well, we would put our moey on Dickwella or Dimuth Karunaratne top scoring for Sri Lanka.

How did their bowling attack perform? Well, if you are conceding close to 600 runs in the first innings, the bowling has not been up to scratch. Lasith Embuldeniya went for 188 runs from the 46 overs that he bowled and picked up two wickets, while Vishwa Fernando bowled 26 overs and conceded 135 runs while picking up two wickets. If you want to try and take advantage of cricket betting odds and place a bet on the top bowler for Sri Lanka, we would put our money on Suranga Lakmal as we think he is their best bowler.

What about changes? Well, since this is a short series, we think that the Sri Lankan selectors will give the same XI a chance to try and redeem themselves in this final Test of the series.

Toss Prediction

The captain that wins the coin toss will probably opt to bat first. India landed a very convincing victory in the first Test by batting first, so both sides will try to replicate this in the second Test. There has been 23 Tests played at this venue, and the team that has batted first has won on 9 occasions, while the team that batted second has won on just five occasions. This is another reason why we think that the captain that wins the toss will opt to bat first.

Pitch and Conditions

There should not be much rain throughout the game, if any, which is great since none of us like delays. When it comes to the surface that is available, we expect to see something similar to what we saw in the first Test - runs can be scored if a batsman applies himself properly, while there can be some assistance for the bowlers. The team that bats first will hope to score around 400 runs and hope that scoreboard pressure has a big impact on their opponents.

Our Match Prediction

When you take into account all that happened in the First Test, then there is only one winner in this match, and that is India. They are just a lot stronger than Sri Lanka in all departments, and even if Sri Lanka play as well as they can, we do not see them being able to do enough to beat this India team.

Our match prediction today: