IPL Betting Day Four

Not a great day betting wise, but some punishing hitting from Hayden and little flashes of magic from Murali to lighten up today’s viewing. Best bowlers today were Murali, Kumble, Freddie and Morkel, suggesting that Port Elizabeth is more suited to the quicker men and the quicks than the medium pacers and worth bearing in mind for the future.

Chennai looked a lot more balanced with Flintoff and Morkel lower and obviously with Murali in the team. They are going to have to do something about Parthiv Patel who must have used up several cat’s lives in a decidedly dicey innings. And though Hayden obviously was in top form, he had plenty of rubbish to cash in. From 106-0 after 10, they really should have racked up 200.

Bangalore tried some things that didn’t work. Praveen Kumar opening was not a success, I think we can say with some safety and though Kallis was a good move, I’m not sure that Jesse Ryder deserved to be dropped. After a poor display by Taylor, I think he could be back for the next one. Particularly weak was their bowling display. Both the Kumars, Kallis (in his first over) and then Kohli bowled a pile of rubbish and why Pietersen waited so long to bring on Kumble, I don’t know.

Anyway, the net result of Day Three was three more points lost and some more ground to make up. Day Four is played out in Durban, where we can expect some bounce, some humidity and hence, some swing.

Kings XI Punjab have received a sympathetic press after they were on the wrong end of a rain damaged match with Delhi. Their batting was positively punchy and the form of Karan Goel was an unexpected boost in the absence of Marsh. It has to be remembered though that Goel was the recipient of some woeful Delhi bowling and when Sehwag brought Vettori on, Punjab couldn’t cope. And I’m not sure that Yuvraj, Sangakkara and Jayawardene are set up to play on seaming, bouncing wickets. I’m confident that Kolkata can dispatch them. The Knight Riders lost their chance with a mad twenty-minute opening in which they lost their three main batsmen. Their bowling isn’t great but it’s better than Punjab.

The other match between Rajasthan and Mumbai should be interesting, but Mumbai have to be big favourites. Rajasthan will no doubt be lively and enterprising in the field, but their bowling is lacking in class, Warne aside and their batting against Bangalore was sluggish and frankly witless. Mumbai are just too professional and organised and though I expect Warne will pull one or two surprises, I think Tendulkar’s men will take this. I wasn’t that interested in any of the top scorer markets until I happened to see Mascarenhas at 14-1. Given the feebleness of the Rajasthan upper order, that is a bet that has to be taken.

Wagers

Kolkata Knight Riders to beat Kings XI Punjab @ 10-11 (Various)
Mumbai Indians to beat Rajasthan Royals @ 8-11 (Stan James)
Mascarenhas to top score for Rajasthan @14-1 (William Hill)


Running Total – 4.87 pts.