We have covered the season winner and the top batsman markets ahead of the new Indian Premier League season starting, and now it is time to have a look at the top bowler offering, where once again some of the best bowlers in the game are on show.
The tournament has moved from India to the UAE which should give the bowlers a little more encouragement over the course of the campaign instead of the fear of going the distance on great Indian tracks.
Recent Winners
2019 – Imran Tahir
2018 – Andrew Tye
2017 – Bhuvneshwar Kumar
2016 – Bhuvneshwar Kumar
2015 – Dwayne Bravo
2014 – Mohit Sharma
2013 – Dwayne Bravo
2012 – Morne Morkel
2011 – Lasith Malinga
2010 – Pragyan Ojha
Market Leaders
Rashid Khan is a 9/1 favourite to top the wicket charts in this tournament. This isn’t the first year that he’s been in the event and he hasn’t come top yet so that is an immediate negative. He isn’t for me as he is recognised now as the leading T20 bowler in the world and much like Sunil Narine who was equally as feared before him, teams recognise they can just play him out and make sure he does no damage to their wickets in hand.
Jasprit Bumrah comes next at 10/1 and although his record in this competition is pretty good in the main, he’ll be chuffed to bits to be away from the road that can often be the wicket at the Wankhede Stadium. Other than his inactivity in recent times there isn’t a whole lot to dislike about Indian superstar to be fair. My only concern would be whether Mumbai Indians are set up as a team to go well in these conditions. I have my doubts on that front.
The leading wicket taker from last season comes next in the form of Imran Tahir. He arrives here off the back of a very solid Caribbean Premier League campaign so we know his form is good. He plays for the team I think will be the champions so there are plenty of boxes that Tahir ticks. I just wonder whether teams will look to play him out and feed on the lesser spinners at the disposal of MS Dhoni in this competition. If they don’t the veteran could go in again at 12/1.
Two classy seam bowlers are next in the betting at 14/1. They are Jofra Archer and Kagiso Rabada. In terms of strike rate with more than 10 wickets last season Rabada was second overall and if he hadn’t missed much of the season through injury he would have been the leading bowler as Tahir played five more matches than him and only finished one wicket higher than him. He isn’t bowling on Delhi pitches here but he is certainly respected, as is Archer who is one of the best bowlers in the world right now.
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Profile
As with the batsmen it is important to whittle the field down here too. We’re looking at more than 40 runners overall in this market and that is just too many to select from. Like we did with the batsmen, we can start by getting rid of any team we don’t think will make the play-offs and concentrate on the ones that do. That halves the number immediately and then there is one more filter to apply.
That comes in the form of whether to pick a seamer or a spinner. Usually in this part of the world the common perception is that we would want to be on spin but Imran Tahir ended a run of eight years where seamers were the top bowler in this tournament and in the Pakistan Super Leagues that have been staged here it has been a seamer topping the wicket charts most times with spinners rarely finishing that high. So it is a seamer for us and then the ideal situation is they bowl at the death where the cheap wickets are.
Betting
Only his record for getting injured put me off backing Kagiso Rabada while you would think Pat Cummins’ workload will have to be managed plus I’m not convinced Kolkata Knight Riders are going to fare all that well here anyway. This time I’m going to take the chance on a Rajasthan Royals bowler at a big price in the hope that he starts the season well and keeps his place in the side as and when Ben Stokes comes over.
That is Andrew Tye, the winner from two years ago when he played for the Kings XI Punjab. He was bamboozling batsmen all over the place that season and there is no reason why he can’t go well for the Rajasthan Royals this term. In fact he could go very well for them if he starts the season because at the death there will be him and Jofra Archer and with teams unlikely to get much joy clobbering the Englishman, they might have to go after Tye and risk their wicket more against him. Slower balls are going to be crucial the longer this tournament goes on and Tye specialises in them. It isn’t a guarantee he plays the whole season but that is reflected in the 50/1 price. I’ll pay to see how long he goes for and if he does enough to get his purple cap back.
Tips
Back A.Tye Season Top Bowler (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with Coral (1/4 1-4)
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