The second day of the IPL 2024 season brings about our first double header of the Indian Premier League campaign and we begin in Mohali as the Punjab Kings and the Delhi Capitals open up their tournament.
These two teams were the outsiders to win the competition in the outright market before the opening game so in theory this represents their best chance for a win in the eyes of the bookmakers. Someone will start their season positively and one will live up to expectation.
Punjab Kings
The Punjab Kings weren’t exactly terrible last season but once again they missed out on the postseason and that has happened too many times when you consider the standout talent they have had down the years. They have gone to the auction and recruited a decent amount of depth to their squad and you would expect them to go better this season than they have done in recent ones, particularly if they stumble on the right balance straight away.
The good thing for the Punjab Kings is that Jonny Bairstow is available for this season and if he is placed at the top of the order he can still be a force. The negative is that three of their overseas players could be England internationals and we saw at the World Cup at the back end of last year that the peak of this England side has been and gone. The positive for Punjab is they have a couple of exciting Indian batters and unlike a lot of teams in this tournament they have good death bowling options.
Delhi Capitals
The Delhi Capitals were one of the two worst sides in the league last season. To be fair to them, their plans went out of the window when Rishabh Pant had his car accident and they never really had the time to sort themselves out to be ready for the new season. Thankfully, he has recovered from that and he is making his return to high level competitive cricket in this tournament. That is important because he is back in place as captain too which takes the role away from David Warner.
I always think that teams who have overseas captains never give themselves the best chance in this tournament. Such is the quality of international player in this competition, when you have an overseas captain who is obviously going to play, you limit yourself to three other international players and were one of them to be a big money signing who is out of form, like Mitchell Marsh and Rilee Rossouw last season, you are leaving yourselves exposes to the rest. Pant being captain will allow Delhi to balance their side better but I still wonder if they have the necessary bowling resources. I suspect they don’t.
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Key Players
Jonny Bairstow makes his return to the Indian Premier League in this match having missed all of last season with injury. He always feels like he has a point to prove but with spaces in the England side in the World Cup up for grabs a fast start would be handy for him here.
All eyes will be on Rishabh Pant on his return to the Indian Premier League, not just to see how he performs but whether he can be the swashbuckling player he was before his accident. Delhi Capitals could certainly do with him being that.
Betting
I’m a little surprised that the Punjab Kings are the outsiders for this match. The Delhi Capitals just have to be a work in progress because they have a captain who hasn’t played a high level competitive match for the better part of 18 months while their star bowler Anrich Nortje is still in South Africa so he isn’t going to be involved in this match either. He leaves a real hole in a bowling attack that I’m not convinced is good enough anyway especially with Jhye Richardson also out injured.
The Punjab Kings look to have a good balance in their side. Although Jonny Bairstow is back in the IPL here he has been playing for England for the last nine months. Kagiso Rabada and Arshdeep Singh are two very good bowlers at both ends of the innings and there is no shortage of batting depth in this Kings side with Sam Curran potentially in at seven. I think this is going to be a high scoring match and I think this Delhi attack is there to be feasted on more than the Punjab one.
Tips
Back Punjab Kings to beat Delhi Capitals for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Betfair
