India favourites over Sri Lanka in betting
Published:Thursday | March 31, 2011 | 12:00 AM
MUMBAI, India (AP):
INDIA are the favourites to win the World Cup cricket final, which will be played at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.
Bookmakers offer best odds of 4/6 (bet $60 to make $40 profit) on India winning the final, with Betfair offering the best online odds.
Sri Lanka can be backed at top odds of 6/4 with Betfair to win the World Cup for the second time, following their triumph in 1996 when they were 33/1 outsiders for the tournament.
Sri Lanka and India have met each other six times in World Cup matches, with the Lankans leading the head-to-head record 4-2. In addition, in 1992 the two sides met and there was no result in that game.
At the start of the tournament India had been 3/1 favourites for the World Cup while Sri Lanka, one of the three co-hosts with India and Pakistan, were on offer at top odds of 5/1, making them joint third favourites with Australia.
India have only ever won one of the previous nine World Cups, when they triumphed in 1983 against the West Indies by 43 runs at Lords.
Record amounts have been bet on this World Cup tournament, with bookies describing the amounts bet on the World Cup semi-final between India and Pakistan as "phenomenal" and "close to a world record".
On the Betfair betting exchange a total of more than $50 million (US) was matched on the one game.