Ahead of the Indian Premier League season getting underway this weekend there is still time to look at all the various top batsmen markets which have been priced up.
One of the beauties of this tournament is that every team is guaranteed 14 matches in the group phase so the winners of these markets are genuine winners. One score isn’t going to have the significant impact it can have in other tournaments with fewer matches per side.
Outright
With the profile of this tournament being so high and it coming straight off the back of a global tournament where the form players have been identified to the world there isn’t a huge amount of value around in the tournament batsman market.
When looking for players in this market I’m always after someone in the top three in this format. Over 14 matches and possibly more there is no guarantee anyone who isn’t in the top three for their side will get enough action to have a chance of top scoring.
In an ideal world we’ll back someone who is batting on one of the smaller grounds when they play their home games as seven matches on those tracks should yield some decent runs especially players who are already in form from the T20 World Cup.
Virat Kohli is an understandable favourite for the overall market. He’s in great form. He’ll bat in the top three for his side and he plays for Bangalore on the smallest ground in the tournament. The only box he doesn’t tick is price.
The same things can be said for AB de Villiers, Kohli’s teammate in this tournament. Another concern for him is that he might not be in the top three and that has to be a concern. Rohit Sharma ticks most of the boxes too but he doesn’t always open for Mumbai and that puts me off him.
Of the others you could make a genuine case for Quinton de Kock and for David Warner. With de Kock I need to know someone is guaranteed to play and Delhi have a lot of overseas players, many of whom they’ve paid a tidy buck for, so he isn’t guaranteed to play. Warner is but again will he open?
Others to consider include Kevin Pietersen, Shane Watson, Ajinkya Rahane and Brendon McCullum and there is nothing stopping them from having big campaigns although where Watson gets into that Bangalore team heaven only knows. Pietersen, Rahane and McCullum are all at new clubs which is a minor concern.
In the end I’ve decided to stick with two West Indians who tick all the boxes I want. West Indian cricket is on a high at the minute and I’m happy to ride that positivity.
Chris Gayle rarely goes through a T20 season without making a couple of contributions and then his bits and pieces around that add up and suddenly he’s averaging 40 for the competition and flying.
He plays half of his matches in Bangalore so he is almost guaranteed runs. Such is his ability to blow sides away that he only made double figures once in the recent T20 World Cup but still finished 15th on the run list which is pretty insane.
In his last three full seasons in the IPL, Gayle has finished first, second and sixth in the run charts. He may only be 12/1 but if he escapes long term injuries he looks a banker to go deep in the run lists this season.
Gayle’s West Indian teammate Lendl Simmons is the other one who interests me in this market. I’m a big Lendl Simmons fan anyway but this Mumbai Indians side is perfect for him. He often opens with an aggressive player and then there is so much power in the middle order that all Simmons has to do is bat sensibly, rotate the strike and put the bad ball to the fence and as a result he has become something of a run machine in this tournament.
We saw him do exactly that when he batted on his home ground for the West Indies in the semi-final of the World T20 and I’m expecting another heavy scoring season for Simmons. Simmons has good touch, good game awareness and all the power needed to clear the ropes. On a delicious Wankhede wicket he should be full of runs this year.
Team markets
All eight sides have markets priced up for their top tournament batsmen and usually I’d be getting stuck right into these but with two new teams and plenty of player movement in the recent auction working out who will definitely start and who won’t isn’t easy so I’ve kept myself to two bets. Keep an eye out as we go through the season as more bets might jump out at us.
First of all I’m going to back up what I said about Lendl Simmons above and take him at 3/1 to be the Top Mumbai batsman. With Rohit Sharma likely to bat in the middle order Simmons has enough of an advantage for that price to be juicy looking.
The second comes in the Rising Pune Supergiants set-up where in fairness there is a number of options. Ajinkya Rahane, Faf du Plessis and Steve Smith will all hold claims on that title while MS Dhoni might have a more prominent role in this side but I can’t ignore KP here.
Kevin Pietersen has been batting beautifully in T20 cricket for quite some time and after a couple of years of struggling with Delhi and other sides he is able to commit to a full season with Pune and I think he’ll churn out a significant number of runs as a result.
The thing I like most about Pietersen is he always speaks about the need for getting himself in and giving himself a few balls before getting expansive and that is the key to his recent success. He’s in a strong batting line up here but few are better than him and 3/1 is big enough to tempt me in.
Tips
Back C.Gayle Top Tournament Batsman (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 13.00 with Boylesports (1/4 1-4)
Back L.Simmons Top Tournament Batsman (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 19.00 with Boylesports (1/4 1-4)
Back them here:
Back L.Simmons Top Mumbai Indians Tournament Batsman for a 2/10 stake at 4.00 with Betfair
Back him here:
Back K.Pietersen Top Rising Pune Supergiants Tournament Batsman for a 2/10 stake at 4.00 with Bet365
Back him here:
