Having looked at the outright market in the Indian Premier League ahead of the new campaign getting underway, it is now time to have a look at the player offerings and we will begin with the list for the batsmen.
Some of the very best batsmen in the world are heading out to India for the competition which means that we are going to get a very extensive betting heat here. Kane Williamson led the run scoring 12 months ago.
Recent Winners
2018 – Kane Williamson
2017 – Dave Warner
2016 – Virat Kohli
2015 – Dave Warner
2014 – Robin Uthappa
2013 – Michael Hussey
2012 – Chris Gayle
2011 – Chris Gayle
2010 – Sachin Tendulkar
2009 – Matthew Hayden
Overview
The first thing we can see when we look down the list of previous winners is that they are all elite batsmen, perhaps with the exception of Robin Uthappa but he wasn’t too bad at the time. It is interesting that only India’s two elite batsmen – Kohli and Tendulkar have topped the list from the home players. It is now eight of the last 10 seasons that an overseas player has led the run scoring. There could well be something in that.
Market Leaders
Somewhat predictably it is Virat Kohli who is the 8/1 market leader this season. He could only run in seventh last season which was a bit of a surprise although once again the Royal Challengers Bangalore did stink the place out for the most part. I always think that captains in this competition are vulnerable because there is so much attention on them, especially if their team performs poorly like RCB continually do. He’s a worthy favourite but I’ll chance my arm elsewhere.
Rohit Sharma is the second favourite at 14/1. He was another who had a rotten season with the bat last term in a side who struggled for the most part with the bat. I would need to know that he is definitely opening before I put a bean down on him, but even then the price is skinny at best. Other players look better bets especially with the question marks over whether he opens or not being live ones.
There are a quartet of players on 16/1 this year. Kane Williamson, Dave Warner, KL Rahul and AB de Villiers are those four men. I’m pretty happy to ignore the first two because they will be leaving for the World Cup before the tournament ends. I really like KL Rahul but I don’t how many runs he’ll lose batting with Chris Gayle initially while AB de Villiers looked scratchy in the Mzansi Super League last year and may well bat too deep in the line up.
Shikhar Dhawan has often been a bet of mine in this market in his Sunrisers’ days. He’s moved to Delhi now where I’m hoping that the runs continue to flow for the sake of my outright bet but generally it is the middle order that is the place to bat at the Kotla. There is a little juice in the 18/1 quoted on the Capitals’ opener but again better value appears elsewhere I suspect. It is 20/1 bar.
Profile
I think the list of previous top run scorers gives us an indication of what we are looking for here. We are clearly after someone who bats high up the order, more often than not as an opener and in an ideal world someone who bats on a small ground. Almost all of the last 10 winners bat on good pitches on tiny grounds. I’m prepared to take a number three but I probably wouldn’t want to go much lower than that.
The other thing that we need to consider this season is the availability of who we are backing. New Zealand and England have already confirmed their players will be coming out of this tournament on May 1 and there is an expectation that Australia and South Africa will do the same to their men as well. Each side has two matches after that date and if your player misses them it won’t help.
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Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets this year, both of whom are openers. If I was going to take a non-opener I would be looking at Rishabh Pant but given he’ll be in the middle order I would want more than 25/1 on him. Chris Gayle is probably a bit of a punt these days given that he is getting no younger but he is in amazing form and actually the schedule of the Kings XI isn’t drastic so the Gayle Force should have enough rest time to be a big factor. He might miss the play-offs but if Gayle has played enough to be in contention here with the way he scores there is every chance he’ll be away and clear by then. Gayle and KL Rahul had a wonderful partnership at the top of the order last year which I expect to continue here. We’ve just seen him in amazing form against England and given that form I can’t ignore the 33/1 on him here.
Royal Challengers Bangalore get through more openers than most people have hot dinners in their lifetime but it looks as set in stone as it can be that Parthiv Patel will open the batting. Given that we are not going to have to worry about him leaving the tournament and the fact that seven of his matches will be at the Chinnaswamy, there is plenty to live about the 100/1 on him to top score. He has 21 50s in this format and if he can find a few more this season, and with his job likely to bat through for the likes of Kohli, de Villiers and Hetmyer to go bonkers he very well should do, he can get himself involved in the top end of the runs list.
Tips
Back C.Gayle Top Season Runscorer (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with Coral (1/4 1-4)
Back him here:
Back P.Patel Top Season Runscorer (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Betway (1/4 1-4)
Back him here:
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