The Indian Premier League finally begins after a 6-month delay enforced by the current Coronavirus pandemic, and it all kicks off with a blockbuster clash between the finalists of last season – Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. The two most successful sides in the history of the tournament, with 4 and 3 titles respectively, square off and would love to gain a head-start over each other from the first match itself. Let’s take a look at this match and preview it from a betting perspective.
IPL 2020 Match 1 – Mumbai Indians Vs Chennai Super Kings Betting Preview
History
These 2 sides are considered as the fiercest rivals in the IPL, sharing 7 titles amongst them. They have faced each other 28 times with Mumbai Indians winning 17 of those matches, and CSK winning the other 11. In the 2019 IPL, Mumbai Indians completed a remarkable turnaround from a losing cause, and beat CSK by just 1 run to lift their record 4th trophy.
Team News
Mumbai Indians will be without the highest wicket taker in IPL history as Lasith Malinga is one of the high-profile names to have pulled out of the tournament, citing personal reasons. However, that blow has been softened by the recent additions of Trent Boult and Nathan Coulter-Nile to complement Jasprit Bumrah in attack.
Chennai Super Kings were recently in the news for all the wrong reasons, as a couple of their players as well as a few members of their staff were found to be covid-positive, gravely affecting their pre-season preparations. This led to several players joining the camp much later and also led to some very high-profile players such as Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh to withdraw from the tournament, something which CSK need to address immediately.
Betting Preview, Picks And Prediction
To Win The Match
Mumbai Indians are the favourite to win the match with odds of 1.72 as per Bet365. They are the current defending champions and have a very strong core group of players, which make them a formidable outfit for any match. CSK to win has odds of 2.10, as per Bet365, which is a surprise as CSK are almost never second-favourites to win any match. The loss of a couple of key players could well be the reason behind these odds, and now it is also up to the risk-management of MS Dhoni, something he is better than everyone else at.
Top Team Batsman
Both Quinton De Kock and Rohit Sharma are favourites at 3.75 to be Mumbai’s top batsman. Both openers have been fairly consistent over the years and can certainly play some big innings with some mighty shots.
In a similar pattern, CSK’s likely openers Shane Watson and Faf Du Plessis are joint favourites to be Chennai’s top batsman, with odds of 4.0 as per Bet 365.
Highest Opening Partnership
Mumbai Indians are the favourites in this market as their openers De Kock and Rohit Sharma are known to provide brilliant quick starts, while Watson and Du Plessis haven’t had a lot of successful partnerships together. The Mumbai Indians are favourites at 1.80 to have the highest opening partnership.
Total Runs In The Match
This is a very attractive marker as odds of there being more than 319.5 runs in this match are 2.00, as per Bet 365. Both these teams have very deep batting lineups and can easily score past the average required score per team i.e 160 in this case.
Individual Player Betting
- Quinton De Kock to score more than 23.5 runs has odds of 1.83, a testament to his consistency at the top, while Rohit Sharma to score more than 22.5 runs has odds of 1.72. Shane Watson to score more than 22.5 runs has impressive odds of 1.90.
- Rohit Sharma to hit 1 or more six has odds of 1.83, while Du Plessis to hit a six has odds of 2.10.
- Jasprt Bumrah to take 2 or more wickets has odds of 2.10, the same as Imran Tahir, who won the Purple Cap last season.
Our Top Betting Picks
- CSK to win the match @ 2.10
- Rohit Sharma to hit a six @ 1.83
- Imran Tahir to take 2 or more wickets @ 2.10
Akshay Malhotra
28 year old former professional cricketer at youth levels with a burning passion for sports. Experienced football writer with over 8 years of experience.
