The last two teams to get their Indian Premier League campaign underway so do in the second part of the IPL 2024 double header on Sunday when the Gujarat Titans take on the Mumbai Indians in a heavyweight clash.
The Mumbai Indians are one of the leading franchises in the history of this competition but in the two years the Gujarat Titans have been in existence they have made the final each time so this one promises to be full of quality.
Gujarat Titans
The Gujarat Titans could barely have been more impressive in the two years that they have been in the league but they begin their third campaign with some questions to answer. The first one will be how they bounce back from losing to the Chennai Super Kings in the final last season and the second will be how they cope without their captain for both of those terms with Hardik Pandya having left to join up with the team they face in this match.
There is another question for them to answer. That comes in the form of having to do without their leading bowler from last season with Mohammad Shami out of the tournament through injury already. Rashid Khan is still coming back from surgery over the winter as well so we are going to find a lot out about the Titans in this match. The logical consensus is that they will improve as the season goes on and players fit into the system.
Mumbai Indians
The Mumbai Indians, along with the Chennai Super Kings, have been the leading franchise in this tournament in its history but they haven’t got their hands on this trophy since 2020 and that will very much be the challenge for them this term. They have a bit of a history of starting seasons slowly and building into their work and it will be interesting to see if they do that again or whether they can finally hit the ground running and make life so much easier for themselves.
On paper, the Indians look so much better equipped to get the trophy back in their hands this season. Hardik Pandya brings a much needed all-round option to the party for them and he has shown he can captain a franchise to the title, but the big boost is that Jasprit Bumrah is fit to take his place in the side. Unfortunately there will be no Suryakumar Yadav for this game so Mumbai are going to need someone else to bring the fireworks with the bat.
Special Offer
Open a new Sporting Index account and bet £10 on the IPL (min odds 1/2) to get £20 in free bets (2x£10 free bets) to use on any sports market! Click the image below to take advantage of this great offer! 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Responsibly.
Key Players
Shubman Gill was the leading run scorer in the tournament last season and all eyes will be on the new Gujarat captain to see if he can continue to score a mountain of runs even with all the captaincy decisions to think about.
Jasprit Bumrah hasn’t played a full IPL season for a while but he begins this one with his fitness intact and he is probably the man who will need to carry the Mumbai Indians’ bowling in the initial stages of the event while they work their best combinations out.
Betting
I would much rather have Suryakumar Yadav around to bet the sixes in this match but the line of 14.5 has lured me in nevertheless. There are still plenty of six hitters on show in this contest and we regularly see here in Ahmedabad that even though the overall structure of the stadium is a huge complex, the actual boundaries here are perfectly small enough to clear and the pitches generally assist with that. Sixes totals here regularly go into the 20s.
I’m not sure we will definitely get to that level here without the likes of Suryakumar Yadav but we do still have players such as Shubman Gill, David Miller, Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya and Tim David among others to hit the big shots for us. If you take Rashid Khan out of the equation, and even he is coming back from injury still, there isn’t a great deal of mystery in either attack so I’ll back the sixes to flow here.
Tips
Back Over 14.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
