Indian Premier League (IPL) ..Clearing The Final Hurdle

Starts Saturday 18th April, 10.30 GMT Cape Town

Saturday sees the start of the much-anticipated 2nd edition of the IPL. Last years event proved to be a soaring success and this years offering promises to be even more exhilarating.

However, there have been a few hurdles for the organisers to overcome in staging this event. It was originally set to start In India on 10th April, but it coincided with elections in India, the biggest democracy in the world, and the government was  unable to guarantee enough security cover for the IPL.

The decision was made to move the tournament overseas with England and South Africa the two most favoured alternatives. Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner made hasty trips to both countries and it was decided that South Africa would be the best option.

 The major reason cited against England hosting it was concerns about the weather, and with such a tight schedule, the organisers felt the climate in South Africa would be more reliable. The date was also amended to start a week later then originally planned.

It has been a major logistical exercise but everything seems to be on course for the start at Cape Town on Saturday with the opening match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians.

There have been some significant changes to some of the teams this year. Most notably some England players have now joined the party. Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff have become two of the highest paid stars and will play for Bangalore and Chennai respectively.

Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah have been snapped up by Delhi Daredevils with Ravi Bopara joining Kings XI Punjab.

The drawback for the England players is that they will only be available to play for the first two weeks of the tournament before need to report back to England duty for the upcoming Test and ODI series with West Indies that starts in early May.

Australian players will also be restricted as they play an ODI series against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi this month and will only be available for a few games towards the end of the tournament.

So who is going to win?

On paper, all eight teams have a splendour of talent, both home grown and internationals. A case be made for most and it is difficult to definitively say that any team will not do well.

However, the change in venue from the slow, batting friendly Indian pitches to the more lively and seamer friendly South African pitches gives some teams a better chance then others.

My two to follow in last year’s tournament, Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab both done well and reached the semi finals. They failed to get over the final hurdle however as both were beaten soundly in those semi finals.

I feel both of these teams will do well again this year and, critically, both will benefit with the move to South Africa.

Delhi Daredevils, captained by master blaster Virender Sehwag, have a balance in both batting and bowling that will be key for success here. Sehwag and Gambhir is undoubtedly the best current opening partnership in world cricket in all formats and they will give Delhi a flying start more times then not. Both batted well in India’s world twenty20 cup in South Africa last year and that experience will be invaluable. To follow them we have in form South African AB Divilliers who will feel comfortable on his home tracks. The middle order will contain the likes of hard-hitting Sri Lankan Dilshan, Englishmen Collingwood and Shah.

On the bowling front Delhi have the perfect balance with the seam of Ashish Nehra, who once took 6 wickets in a devastating spell of bowling against England in South Africa, Umesh Yadav and the classy spin pairing of Vettori and Amit Mishra.

Kings XI Punjab, led by another of India’s Twenty20 world cup winners, Yuvraj Singh also have a great balance in both departments. To compliment Yuvraj in the batting department they have the top Sri Lankan pair of Sangakarra and Jayawardne as well as one of the stats of last years IPL, Shaun Marsh and the newly signed Ravi Bopara.

On the bowling front they are blessed with Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan, two bowlers who stood out in the aforementioned Twenty20 world cup in South Africa, with Pathan taking the honours as man of the match in the final. They will be backed up by the pace of Vikram Singh and the spin of Chawla. Brett Lee will also be available, but only for the latter games due to his commitments with Australia.

Ok so what’s the bet?

I am going to stick to Delhi and Punjab again this year. I believe they will go a step further this time and clear that final hurdle and one of them will prevail overall and win the tournament.

I am also going to have a couple of interest bets on the tournaments top bowler and top batsmen markets.

These are very competitive markets and a whole host of players are in contention. I have picked two that I believe represent value and will be backing them, albeit for minimal stakes.

For top batsmen I am siding with Suresh Raina from Chennai Super Kings. He is coming on leaps and bounds and is starting to cement his place in the Indian ODI side. Very aggressive, positive batsmen who will bat at no3 most of the time and so have time build substantial innings.

For top bowler I like the look of the aforementioned Irfan Pathan from Kings XI Punjab. He was one of the best bowlers in that Twenty20 world cup on these South African pitches. He is one of the best depth bowlers in Twenty20 and I believe he will again prove to be a handful on these pitches.

My suggested bets for this edition of the IPL are:

In the Outright Win Market:

BACK Delhi Daredevils for 4 points @ 5.5 Totesport, Boylesports , Expekt , Ladbrokes, Extrabet

BACK Kings XI Punjab for 3 points @ 9.5 at Paddy Power

In the Tournament Top Batsman Market:

BACK Suresh Raina for 0.5 point @ 26.0 at Paddy Power, Betfred , Boylesports , Expekt

In The Tournament Top Bowler Market:

BACK Irfan Pathan for 0.5 point @ 23.0 at Stan James, Expekt

Join me and lets all cheer Delhi and Punjab over the final hurdle.

Bigjoe