IPL Betting Day Three

A damp, drizzly, sawdust and swing sort of a day and some stop-start action in the gloom. Feeble bowling from Delhi and Punjab, with one glorious exception in the great bearded one, Mr Vettori. Punjab's batting looks punchy, but their bowling isn't going to frighten the pigeons. Delhi can do better when they get McGrath and Maharoof back in.

Deccan were enthusiastic and professional and their bowling early on was perfectly suited to the conditions. Kolkata took the Chennai and Rajasthan route (a road also travelled by the Bangalore top order) and tried to blast their way to glory with flat feet and flailing willow. It didn't work. And where was Mendis? I want my money back.

I'd also quite like to get my money back from the various bookmakers mentioned yesterday. Sadly this is as likely as Lalit Modi offering a refund. The three big names let me down and little Warner didn't even make the starting gate. I still think my theory is broadly correct: cometh the dodgy pitches, cometh the classy batsmen. But it needs perhaps some fine tuning.

Anyway, 1.87 pts down and I'm looking for redemption in tomorrow's clash. First things first, the pitch I think will be even more bowler friendly than Cape Town, with a touch more pace about it. The domestic Twenty20 scores at St George's Park over the last couple of seasons have been very low, with 150 surpassed on only one occasion in 14 innings. And a damp morning is forecast, which is sure to add a little more zip to the pitch.

Bangalore's bowling looked good in the conditions on Saturday and though their early order fluffed their lines, I expect that Ray Jennings will have instilled some discipline into the likes of Ryder and Taylor. We may even see fat Jacques get a chance to show what he can do. I'm surprised to see them at odds against against Chennai. The Super Kings had the best of the pitch in their opening game, but really didn't bat with any intelligence and fell well short.

Nothing stands out in the top bat market for Bangalore, but I would be interested in Suresh Raina for Chennai. He looked in really good touch on Saturday. And I'm going to give another chance to Dhoni who could find himself called upon to rescue the innings and who has the ability to craft an innings in these tougher conditions.

Wagers

Bangalore to beat Chennai @ 11-10 (Betfred)
Suresh Raina to top score for Chennai @ 4-1 (Various)
MS Dhoni to top score for Chennai @ 6-1 (Stan James)

Running Total - 1.87 pts