Having gone through the batsmen markets ahead of the Indian Premier League season it is now time to go through the equivalent ones for the Indian Premier League top bowler where once again there is a tournament market and a market for each team.
Indian Premier League Top Bowler – Outright
Just with the batsmen markets the recent T20 World Cup has ensured value is thin on the ground with the bowlers and that is probably cramped up even more by the fact that the spread of wickets is much closer than that of the runs in any tournament so we really don’t want to be taking a really short price here.
As always with T20 competitions you have to weigh up whether spinners or seamers are the way to go and then bet accordingly but I’m not actually sure there will be such a difference over the 14 matches everyone plays here. I’m placing more importance in time a player bowls. If I can find a player who bowls in the powerplay and at the death who is a decent price I’m interested.
Predictably the favourites in this market include Ravi Ashwin, Dwayne Bravo and Sunil Narine. Ashwin should always go well in these conditions but he isn’t in Chennai anymore so we would be guessing that he’ll be suited to Pune as well.
Bravo is another who has moved and it remains to be seen if he is as effective on a new ground. The recent T20 World Cup would suggest he is but wickets there could easily be shared around the likes of Ravi Jadeja, Dale Steyn and James Faulkner.
Sunil Narine is recently back from having his action looked into again and I’d need to have seen that he remains the same bowler before I can invest any of my hard earned on him so I’m prepared to look outside the obvious market leaders.
Imran Tahir and Jasprit Bumrah are high up in the betting. I wouldn’t put anyone off Tahir but the price isn’t for me while I’m not sure I could be taking anyone who is bowling half of their matches on that flat deck in Mumbai let alone a seamer.
Honourable mentions should go to the likes of Axar Patel, Ashish Nehra, Mitchell McClenaghan and Samuel Badree but I’ve decided to look at two other options for this season.
Andre Russell bowled really well in the recent T20 World Cup to come away with nine wickets and I fancy he will go well for Kolkata Knight Riders this year. They don’t have Jacques Kallis this season so Russell could step into his bowling boots and bowl in the powerplay while you would think he is a certainty to bowl at the death.
The Knight Riders have some very economical spinners in their side who aren’t easy to score off so if sides are struggling for a score they might need to take huge risks against the likes of Russell to get up to anything competitive. That brings Russell’s variations into play and with that I fancy he’ll get some cheap wickets and enough to be a force in this market.
One man who is overpriced in this list is Kyle Abbott. He might not be the ideal bowler in that he isn’t a world class spinner but he has shown around the world that he can take wickets at the death and that is important.
Kings XI Punjab are another side who have a couple of tidy spinners who can be hard to get away and Mitch Johnson isn’t the easiest to score off either so that could bring in a need to belt Abbott around but the way the South African spears in those yorkers at the end of an innings he isn’t easy to get away. I’ll take him to go well this season too.
Team markets
There isn’t as much value in the team markets when it comes to bowlers because the end number that decides the places is very small but there are a couple who are priced accordingly enough for me to get involved.
The first of those come in the Top Delhi Daredevils market where Imran Tahir looks a good thing to me. Zaheer Khan has the potential to be a danger while Chris Morris could go well but Tahir is a regular wicket taker at the top level.
I keep thinking batsmen will work Tahir out eventually but there are still no signs of that and until there are he is always going to go well in T20 tournaments especially those out in Asia such as this one. He took 15 wickets in 10 matches last year and a similar return should be more than enough.
I’m also going to chance the new Bangladeshi superstar at the Sunrisers in Mustafiqur Rahman. Hardly any batsmen were able to pick up his slower ball at the T20 World Cup recently and as a result he has plenty of wickets to his name by the end of the competition.
It isn’t a certainty that Rahman plays from the off for the Sunrisers with the likes of Boult, Warner and Henriques likely to take up three of the overseas quota but if he does we know he’ll bowl in the powerplay and at the death and that could see him take plenty of wickets. At 6/1 he’s overpriced in the Sunrisers market even allowing for Ashish Nehra and Bhuvi Kumar.
Tips
Back A.Russell Top Tournament Bowler (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Betway
Back K.Abbott Top Tournament Bowler (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Betway
Back I.Tahir Top Delhi Daredevils Tournament Bowler for a 3/10 stake at 3.50 with Bet365
Back him here:
Back M.Rahman Top Sunrisers Hyderabad Tournament Bowler for a 1/10 stake at 7.00 with Stan James
