Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009

[Crouch Potato]

Couldn't see a thread for this yet so thought I'd get one started :ok.

	Delhi	4.5	5.5	4.5	5	5	5.5	5.5	5	5	5.5	5.5	4.5	4.5	5	4.33	4.5	4.5	5.8	5.8
	Chennai	5	5.3	5	5	5	6	5		5.5	5.5	4.33	5	4.5	5.5	4.5	4.5	5	5.6	5.5
	Mumbai	6.5	6.4	6.5	6.5	6.5	6	6		5.5	6	7	6	6	6.5	6.5	6	6	6.8	6.6
	Bangalore	8	7.4	8	8	8.5	8	7.5	8	7	7	8	7.5	8.5	7	8	8	6	7.8	8.4
	Kolkata	7.5	8.7	7	7	8	7	7	7	9	7	7	7.5	8	8	9		9	9.2	9.4
	Jaipur	9	8.5	7.5	8	8.5	9.5	8	7	8	8.5	8	8	8	8.5	8	7.5	7	9	9
	Mohali	7	8.9	6.5	7	6	7	8	8	7	7	7	9.5	8.5	8	7	6	8	9.4	8.6
	Hyderabad	13	10	11	11	10	11	11	9	11	11	11	13	11	11	11	10	11	11	12.5
Place terms		5 1/4		2 1/3		2 1/3						2 1/3	2 1/3	2 1/3	2 1/3	2 1/3

Trying to look around at the various aspects (player availability etc.) but it's all sort of doing my head in. Anyway, the one bet that really appealed to me was Ross Taylor for top series runscorer, but looking at the top Bangalore batsman market it's framed in a way to suggest that he wont play as many games as I thought he might. Although Kallis and Dravid are a longer price so maybe these markets are more skewed towards opening batsman. In any event, anyone able to shed some light on the likely make up of the Bangalore batting order?

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 Nice one Crouchie. Have edited your 1st post to include the odds :ok. As for Bangalore, until Pietersen goes I would imagine their 4 overseas players will be from Pietersen, Ryder, Boucher, Kallis and Steyn. Taylor could replace KP.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 6 superb weeks of cricket are in store for us in South Africa. I'm going with 3 outrights and I've got a couple of bets in the matches tomorrow. 2pts Mumbai Indians to win IPL 2009 11/2 Blue Square Arguably nobody finished last year's IPL in better form than the Mumbai Indians and I think they have everything needed to win this tournament this year. They have Sachin fit and on form firstly, they have Harbhajan available after he missed most of the tournament last year, they have a superb Indian bowler in Zaheer Khan and plenty of all rounders in Bravo, Napier, McLaren and Jayasuriya. JP Duminy was money well spent in the auction as was Mohammad Ashraful. A good blend of internationals alongside 3 of the very best Indian players sees Mumbai a very strong unit and one which I think will take a lot of stopping. 1pt Mumbai Indians Most team 6's (Regular season only) 7/1 Stan James This one is a big price given Jayasuriya clouts it a mile and the likes of Napier, Bravo and McLaren can all biff it. As can Harbhajan, Sachin and Zaheer Khan. Shikhar Dhawan showed last season he's quality too and Duminy will knows these grounds well. On their day this lot can really turn it on and are a value call given that bat with big hitting most of the way down the order. 1pt ew H.Singh Top Tournament Wicket Taker 18/1 Blue Square (1/4 1,2,3,4,5) Harbhajan Singh is in great form at present having had a good tour of New Zealand and given his ban is over for this tournament I expect him to go well with something of a point to prove. He's a great limited overs bowler anyway but when Khan and Mills haven't gone round the park, Harbhajan might have too which is when he's at his best. These pitches should suit him nicely. Twenty20 seems to suit the spinners and there isn't many better than this bloke and he gets the call for top tournament wicket taker. And now 2 for the later game tomorrow. 3pts Bangalore to beat Rajasthan 10/11 Stan James Bangalore have made a couple of very shrewd signings in Jesse Ryder and Kevin Pietersen who will skipper the side. Dale Steyn should be bang at home here in South Africa and he'll be fired up to go well here, especially at his test captain Smith who is in the Royals side. Bangalore have swapped Robin Uthappa for Zaheer Khan and the batsman will open up for the Royal Challengers. Kallis and Boucher could be rested as they were playing for SA in JoBurg last night. Last years champions, the Rajasthan Royals have been hit hard by the loss of Sohail Tanvir who was superb with the ball last season. Younis Khan and Kamran Akmal aren't here either and Shane Watson is only here for a week and only as a batsman. Tyron Henderson was signed in the auction but he's yet to really succeed at this level which could leave a lot of pressure on Dimitri Mascarenhas. Shane Warne is a master at using everything he has at his disposal but with a weak looking bowling attack he could struggle here. Bangalore look the stronger and I think they'll win this. 1pt ew Y.Pathan Top Rajasthan Batsman 13/2 Coral (1/5 1,2,3) Yusuf Pathan is a massive hitter of a cricket ball and he looks set to bat higher up the order this season. The boundaries at Cape Town certainly won't be big enough for him if he connects with the ball. He plays spin and seam just as well and if the innings get set up for him to come in on or around the 11th over to go berserk this price will look big very quickly. There isn't a huge amount of depth to this batting lineup and if Smith is fatigued or Watson rusty then Pathan can easily run into at least a place if not actually top score.

[Crouch Potato]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 3 for me, all on the top series wicket-taker market. RP Singh @ 34 Singh had a brilliant Twenty20 World Cup performance when it was held in South Africa taking 12 wickets from 7 games. He's currently out of the Indian team and I imagine would be keen to get himself into this year's Twenty20 World Cup Squad with a big performance in a country he's had great results in in the past. He's the main bowler for Deccan which could work for or against him, with a slight concern that other teams might look to see him off. Still, this is T20 and I don't really think that sort of mindset really happens too often. Irfan Pathan @ 41 Pathan has a great T20 record (45w from 36 games). He's not the best bowler around but he has a happy nack of getting regular wickets in the shorter versions of the game. Had a decent showing in the last edition of the IPL and at these odds I think value is definitely on the backer's side. Albie Morkel @ 51 Albie is an immensely experienced T20 player with over 70 games in this format. Furthermore he'll be playing on home soil so he should be familiar with the conditions. Placed in the Top 10 for most wickets in last year's IPL and with this being in South Africa I think there's genuine room for him to go better and at odds that are more than tasty.

[WoodyTHFC]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 Delhi Daredevils to win IPL 9/2 lad 10 pts This franchise reached the semis in this last year before being thrashed by the eventual winners. However with a couple of useful additions they could go a couple better. What stands out about them is their awesome batting line up, Sewhag and Gambhir a thrilling Indian combination who should play every game. Then there are some of the overseas stars who will fit in at times, Warner, a man who could be anything in this format, talented players like De Villiers, Shah, Collingwood, Dilshan so there is plenty of strength in the batting line up. Tiwary is an Indian player who showed little in the first year but is well thought of in India and could show up better this time around. Their bowling arguably isnt as strong and they miss Asif from last year who played some of their games. However Nannes is useful 20 20 performer with pace that surprises and could deputise well. Maharoof can be steady. Vettori will be available this year which is a huge asset, he is under 6s as an economy rate in 20 20s. He and Mishra will provide the spin option. Much will depend on quite how Mcgrath will respond this year, last year he was very good but he is a year older and may not have the same appetitie after events in the last year. They have also traded for Nehra and I havent even mentioned their leading wicket taker from last year who I mention below. So whilst the bowling doesnt quite have as many huge names as the batting line up, they could do a more than adequate job and overall I fancy this franchise, with a potnetilaly devestating batting line up, to go quite close to winning this. Gilchrist top tournament run scorer 28/1 sj 2 pts e.w 5 places and top Deccan Charges run scorer 10/3 sj 10 pts A bit of a risk here given Gilchrist goes into this having had a year off but it didnt do Warne or McGrath much harm last year and Gilchrist is still a batsman who bowlers fear. He has the ability to destroy bowling atacks and really is an ideal player for this fromat. Last year in this only 5 players scored more runs and that was without Gilchrist playing further games as his franchise were quite simply awful and didnt get close to the later stages. Im not quite sure how good they will be this time around either but Gilchrist being the captain now should play all the time if healthy and he has the capability of scoring a lot of runs in this event. I also like him to be the leading DC scorer again given he looks likely to play every game and that his nearest rival who should also play every game, Sharma, comes into this event as a player with more of a point to prove after an average year. Z.Khan top tournament wicket taker 22/1 boy 5 places 2 pts e.w Zaheer Khan only played 11 games in this last year and was still leading wicket taker for his franchise then and whilst slightly high economically, he was mainly a success. Hence his trade is a bit of a surprise but one that could help him as he looks to have moved to a stronger outfit. Given that he is indian he should play all the games here providing he is fit and that greatly helps his chances of taking a lot of wickets here and being around the top wicket takers in the event. V.Y Manesh top tournament wicket taker 50/1 sj 5 places 2 pts e.w and top Delhi Daredevils wicket taker 7/1 sj 5 pts A bit of a wildcard pick here but given I fancy this franchise to do well, one of their bowlers could take quite a few wickets and it could be Manesh. He was actually the leading wicket taker for this franchise last year and that is despite not playing a lot of the games. This year he will possibly play even more games given how the event requires playing Indians and he now looks one of the more established Indians. Also looking at his side, some of the overseas bowlers will have to be rotated; Mcgrath, Nannes, Maharoof, Vetorri (may just go one spinner and could be Mishra on ocassions.) So that could leave this market for an Indian and it could be Manesh. One for the first day: Bangalore to beat Rajasthan 10/11 bet3 10 pts The defending champs here could be overturned here by an outfit that struggled last year. Rajasthan have lost some big players from last year especially pace man Tanvir who will be hard to replace. Someone like Morkel could come in for him but he has struggled for form of late. Also they appear one bowler short, Watson can only bat and whether its Dimi or Henderson who come in, they could be inviting for the opposition and will need to use all of their nous to survive. Plus their batting has also suffered one or two drop outs and much depends on Smith, Pathan and a partially fit Watson. Bangalore were poor in this last year but have revamped their franchise. KP takes the reins and could prove hit or miss in the few weeks he is here but he might just be the thing that revitalises this franchise. Ryder is another explosive recruit and he is in form and Uthappa could also be a hit. Their bowling attack is missing Khan but Steyn is likely to have a point to prove against Smith here and Kumar should provide useful support although again they may need one more prominent bowler too. However they might just have enough here against a depleted defending champs.

[justinsheriff]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 Chennai v Mumbai teams news from Cricinfo - Chennai need to decide on the opening partner for Hayden. The contenders are Parthiv Patel, Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan and M Vijay. The first two played last year, but neither was entirely convincing. The other issue is deciding on their four foreign players. Matthew Hayden, Andrew Flintoff and Albie Morkel are near certainties, but Muralitharan might pip home boy Makhaya Ntini for the fourth spot. Chennai Super Kings (probable) 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Parthiv Patel, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 MS Dhoni (capt/wk), 5 S Badrinath, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Albie Morkel, 8 L Balaji, 9 Joginder Sharma, 10 Manpreet Gony, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan. Mumbai's batting appears fairly well settled, but at least one bowling spot is up for grabs. With Sanath Jayasuriya, Duminy and Dwayne Bravo almost sure to play, the fourth foreigner's spot will probably be a tussle among Dilhara Fernando, Lasith Malinga and Kyle Mills. Malinga could add firepower to the attack, but his inconsistency might tilt the scales in favour of Mills. Mumbai Indians (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Shikhar Dhawan, 4 JP Duminy, 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6 Abhishek Nayar, 7 Yogesh Takawale (wk), 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Dhawal Kulkarni, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Kyle Mills. For Morkel, Duminy and perhaps Ntini, it'll also mean playing the IPL opener within hours of finishing the day-night ODI against Australia in Johannesburg.

[justinsheriff]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 Bangalore v Rajastan team news from Cricinfo Like Rajasthan, Bangalore have serious headaches when it comes to picking four overseas players. Bangalore failed to spark last season, but the addition of Pietersen and Ryder add much-needed oomph to the batting. That's two spots, leaving the likely candidates to be Steyn and Roelof van der Merwe, both South Africans. Ross Taylor, Bracken, Kallis and Boucher are likely to miss out. Steyn is Bangalore's best bowler and he has said the inclusion of van der Merwe, a great Twenty20 spinner and destructive batsman, was likely to balance out the loss of Zaheer Khan. Unlike Ryder, Taylor does not bowl. Bracken has been in poor form in South Africa, while Bangalore are unlikely to use an overseas spot on Boucher and Kallis, who did nothing worth remembering last season. Praveen Kumar is a shoo-in and the men to back him up include Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Pankaj Singh. Though Anil Kumble has done nothing of note in Twenty20 he may be considered for his experience. Bangalore Royal Challengers (probable) 1 Jesse Ryder, 2 Robin Uthappa, 3 Kevin Pietersen, 4 Rahul Dravid, 5 Virat Kohli, 6 Roelof van der Werwe, 7 Sreevats Goswami (wk), 8 Praveen Kumar, 9 Anil Kumble, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Pankaj Singh. Rajasthan will be keen to use Watson's services - though he will play as a batsman - before he departs for Australian duty in the UAE from April 22-May 7. Last year's Player of the Series is a likely starter, filling the No. 3 slot. Warne and Smith will fill two more non-Indian spots, leaving England's Dimitri Mascarenhas and South Africa's Henderson fighting over the other allrounder's berth. Warne has talked up Henderson and his experience in local conditions so he may get preference. South African fast bowler Morne Morkel and the Australians Shaun Tait and Shane Harwood will be competing as strike bowlers. It is indeed a complicated situation for Rajasthan. Among the Indian players, Warne said he had high hopes from Kamran Khan, 18, the left-arm seamer from Uttar Pradesh who bowls with a slingy action and surprising pace. Rajasthan Royals (probable) 1 Graeme Smith, 2 Swapnil Asnodkar, 3 Shane Watson, 4 Yusuf Pathan, 5 Ravindra Jadeja, 6 Tyron Henderson, 7 Shane Warne (capt), 8 Mahesh Rawat (wk), 9 Munaf Patel, 10 Sidharth Trivedi, 11 Kamran Khan.

[Charlie Wong]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 Top IPL Batsman/Runscorer Gautam Gambhir @ 14/1 class act in all forms of the game, him and Sehwag will blast away from the top of the order for Delhi.

[Crouch Potato]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 Interesting to see that Shaun Tait has been banned from the IPL due to Cricket Australia refusing to clear him to play. Considering his problems in the past, I think it's a fantastic decision.

[Charlie Wong]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 Bangalore carrying on from last year...66/5

[Charlie Wong]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 finished on 133, rajasthan currently 15/3:loon

[Charlie Wong]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 rajasthan 47/7...:lol lookslike Dravids classy 66 will do it for Bangalore, not bad for a player who's not a "20/20 specialist":clap

[Charlie Wong]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 Delhi VS Punjab Despite the price being a little on the skinny side, i think a combination of Delhi's powerful batting line up and Kings missing a few players is worth backing Sehwags side. Throw into the mix the fact that Sri Lankan duo Sangakarra and Jayawardene have'nt played since the terrorist attack, makes Punjabs batting a bit light, top batsman Shaun Marsh is also recovering from injury, as is leading wicket taker Sreesanth, it looks like Yuvraj Singh will carry the main hopes with the bat, Dan Vettori is an interesting recruit to the Delhi ranks aswell. Delhi Daredevils WIN @ 4/7

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 Fairly decent day for me with Mumbai opening with a win and Bangalore winning with Pathan top scoring with a couple of others. +5.53 for today in that 2nd match which I'll take. Will come back with anything for tomorrow shortly.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 Plenty of 4/6 and even some 7/10 around for Delhi, Wongy mate :ok.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 3 for me in Sunday's 2 matches. 3pts Delhi to hit Most 6's vs Kings XI Evs Paddy Power Delhi are packed with big hitters in their ranks in the form of Virender Sehwag and Dave Warner especially. Gautam Gambhir and AB de Villiers are no slouches either and then there's Vettori down the innings too. They can all hit a big ball. It's with the ball though why I like Delhi here. Daniel Vettori and Glenn McGrath don't cough up many 6's and Ashish Nehra isn't much easier to get away either. Kings XI have more strokeplayers than out and out hitters in their side. Bopara, Sangakkara and Jayawardene are all strokers of the ball. Yuvraj Singh is a hitter but he could be alone in the 6 hitting with Shaun Marsh and James Hopes away on international duty. Punjab's bowling attack looks threadbare and if Delhi's openers start teeing off this will be over pretty quickly in terms of a 6 hitting contest. Evs is way too big and I'll take it. 3pts Kolkata to hit Most 6's vs Deccan Chargers 5/4 Paddy Power Kolkata are another side who have sufficient 6 hitting abilities right down their order. Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum are as big hitting as they come and it doesn't stop there when you think Sourav Ganguly and Brad Hodge are in after them. Agit Agarkar can get the ball away down the order too for the Knight Riders. In terms of 6 hitting, Deccan will miss the likes of Shahid Afridi, who is banned for this tournament by the PCB and Andrew Symonds who is away with Australia. It could well end up being Gilchrist on his own and he hasn't played a competitive game of cricket since this tournament last summer. Herschelle Gibbs is sure to go well too but in terms of big hitting there isn't much after that. With the ball, Ajentha Mendis and Murali Kartik won't be easy to get away on a wearing pitch while Deccan's bowling has a cannon fodder look about it. 1pt H.Gibbs Top Deccan Chargers Batsman 4/1 Ladbrokes Herschelle Gibbs has been in excellent nick for South Africa in their series with Australia. He hit a century and an 80 in the last two matches and looked back to his fluent best. This Deccan batting lineup isn't as strong as it perhaps could be and it could end up being a straight shootout between the openers - Gibbs and Gilchrist. Rohit Sharma is talented by hasn't done anything since this event last year while Rao could be coming in too low to feature. Gibbs is going well and if he gets in he could well go on and top score.

[Charlie Wong]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009

Plenty of 4/6 and even some 7/10 around for Delhi' date=' Wongy mate :ok.[/quote'] went with bluesq:$ gl, for todays bets,although bit of a rain delay. wonder if these two matches will be low scoring like yesterdays?

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 Profitable day for me today but only a small one. The Delhi 6's bet was void as it was rain affected but the Kolkata one stood and annoyingly they drew despite Deccan never needing a run a ball. One of the 6's came from Gibbs though which held off Sharma in the top scoring so +1 for the day and +6.53 overall going into tomorrow.

[Charlie Wong]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 Sehwag smeared a weak looking Kings bowling attack,nice win. Bangalore Vs Chennai really like the look of Bangalore in IPL2, still waiting for Uthappa and Ryder to have a hit, KP and Dravid with possibly Kallis to come in makes the batting look good, Kumble and Steyn bowled well and the quick SA bowler will be key in home conditions. KP Vs Flintoff will be amazing to watch, dont think Fred bowled that well in the 1st game, he's also nursing an ankle injury. Chennai's bowling doesn't look great, the batting looks like it needs Hayden, Raina and Dhoni to be on top form. Bangalore Win @ 11/10 (Coral)

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 I'm going the other way Mr Wong. 3pts Chennai to beat Bangalore 5/6 Stan James Chennai lost their opening match of this years IPL but they lost it to the team I think will win it so there's no harm in that. Bangalore struggled early on against Rajasthan but come through by a huge margin. I wasn't that impressed though. Only two of their batsmen made double figures and on a pitch and in conditions which helped them they skittled the Royals. Whether they'll get conditions their way in this game remains to be seen. Chennai left Murali out of the 1st match but you would expect him to come in for this one with the pitches spinning nicely in South Africa. Albie Morkel will probably come in for last year's runners up too. Bangalore are likely to stick Jacques Kallis into their side, possibly for Ross Taylor but it's still not the greatest batting lineup - it's certainly not as explosive as Chennai's, and their bowling isn't the best either. I quite like the make up of Chennai's side. They made a mistake in leaving Murali out against Mumbai but his inclusion could be the key for them to get their 1st win.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 Chennai were never in doubt, although batting 1st in these late games is huge it seems. +2.50 for today and +9.03 for the tournament now. With the late game bias I'm going to leave that alone tomorrow although I'll be supporting Mumbai anyway. I'll have 2 in the 1st match though. 3pts Kings XI Punjab to beat Kolkata 11/10 Skybet Kings XI were a touch unlucky in their 1st match against Delhi. Delhi's task was made so much easier by the rain delays. However when they batted they did so pretty impressively. The two openers played well and although there wasn't much in terms of runs in behind those coming in after the openers were basically teeing off so I'm not going to read too much into that. Their bowling never really had an opportunity to get going but in Piyush Chawla they've got a very good spinner and Yuvraj can also bowl spin. Kolkata were just plain and simply awful in their opener. They never got going with the bat and Deccan just eased home against a bowling attack which on paper looks dangerous. For some reason they chose not to play Mendis but you'd think he'll play here. Ishant Sharma looks the business. It's their multi captaincy rubbish and their lightweight batting which concerns me about the Knight Riders. Sure, the top two can be dynamite but their isn't a huge amount of batting in behind. Kings XI aren't as strong as last year but they have bowlers capable of stepping up to the plate. They're batting is solid though and I think they can get the runs to win this one. 1pt Y.Singh Top Kings XI Batsman 9/2 Coral Yuvraj Singh loves Kingsmead. He hit 6 6's in an over here against Stuart Broad in the world twenty20 and in that tournament, his 2 knocks here were 58 from 16 balls against England and 70 off 30 balls against Australia. If he gets in here the Knight Riders will be fetching a lot of balls. There's some quality in this Kings XI lineup but you'd think Yuvraj will be in at 3 or 4 and nobody will score quicker. Corals are taking a big risk offering 9/2 of Yuvraj when he's as short as 3/1 in places and he's my call to top score for the Punjab side.

[comeonuhull]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 Not a massive cricket fan but i love this IPL... Great shout on Yuvraj Kev :clap. He looked like he was getting into it before he mistimed one. Punjab will rue the missed chances they put down when Gayle was on 2 (Dolly) and then Sangakkara put him down later on. Other than that the boundaries were just not even an obstacle for Gayle, he really can hit a ball !!!

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 Cheers mate. Annoying that the rain got involved but still +1.50pts for the day and up to +10.53 for the tournament now. Going with just the one for Wednesday. Big price too. 1pt P.Kumar Top Bangalore Batsman 25/1 Betfred Praveen Kumar actually opened the batting for Bangalore on Monday, something I don't think Betfred have realised. Should be open again in this match then 25/1 is huge whatever he does. He showed in Bangalore's opening match that he can hit a ball a long way when he hit a massive 6. He struggled to get bat on ball in that match but that was the 2nd game that day so conditions wasn't easy. This is the only match here on Wednesday. Even if he doesn't open, this Bangalore side doesn't possess the strongest batting lineup and wherever he comes in, it's worth taking a chance that he clatters a few. He is no mug with the bat, he has 7 first class half centuries and 4 more one day half centuries so he knows how to hold a bat an with the chance he'll open up at 25/1 I'll have a small bet on Kumar here.

[Charlie Wong]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 Delhi Vs Chennai This could be a real cracker between two decent sides, Sehwag and Gambhir are superb at the top,but were yet to see anyone else have a hit in the side, add the fact Delhi haven't really played a full match yet due to rain and therefore Chennai may have the edge in terms of time in the middle and sharpness in the field.Hayden looked in fine touch and will be supported by the big hitters Fred,Raina and Dhoni, Murali holds the main bowling hopes with Fred,the back up bowlers really need to support them. Chennai Win @ 21/20 (boylesports) Kolkata Vs Rajasthan Siding with Kolkata here, Rajasthan still haven't played since their humiliating humbling by Bangalore in their opening match, Kolkata on the other hand had a confidence boosting win against Punjab(D/L) where Chris Gayle landed some handsome blows. McCullum looked in better form also. Henderson and Pathan are massive hitters of a cricket ball and along with Smith will be the key wickets. Kolkata Win @ 8/11(boylesports) 2 x singles and a double.:\

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 Kumar never opened and came in way too late. Naturally to rub salt into the wounds he goes and spanks a couple of huge 6's so if he came in up the order we'd have had a runner there. Not a huge loss though. -1 for the day and back to +9.53 for the tournament. I'm going with 4 for tomorrow. 3pts Chennai to beat Delhi 21/20 Boylesports Chennai look to be the stronger side here. I actually considered backing them outright but with Flintoff leaving in 2 weeks I decided Mumbai offered better value. There's no denying that Chennai are strong in both the batting and bowling departments. Matthew Hayden has been in excellent form and with him being backed up by Suresh Raina, Andrew Flintoff, MS Dhoni and Albie Morkel who so far has been a victim of how good this Chennai batting lineup is, that's a strong lineup. Flintoff, Murali, Morkel, Gony and Sharma are close to as good as it gets with the ball too and this lot will be tough to beat. Delhi are no mugs though. They have Virender Sehwag at the top and 10 overs of him and it's goodnight and thanks for coming. Dave Warner could open up with him which would be a sight to see. Then you've got Gambhir and AB de Villiers following them. It's the bowling that looks a problem to me. Dan Vettori's fine. He's different gravy in this format he truly is, Glenn McGrath is unlikely to be his economical self however and he could get some treatment and then the Indian bowlers on offer look weak. I like MS Dhoni as a captain and I think he gets the best out of his side. He'll know how to deal with Sehwag and if they do get Sehwag early I think they'll win this fairly easily. 2pts M.Hayden Top Chennai Batsman 11/4 Betfred Matthew Hayden is playing very well at the minute. He looks a totally different player to the one who South Africa had under control. This format is perfect for him anyway and if he gets a few hard he'll be hard to peg back. The reason I like this bet is he'll be up against the seamers and will be well into his innings when Vettori comes on. That's when batting will get difficult. Should McGrath play and open the bowling he'll know what to expect having faced him in the nets countless times so he's got most things in his favour. This is a strong batting lineup so he may not be totally safe until the final ball is bowled but Hayden in form tends to cash in a lot and I think he'll do that here and top score. 3pts Rajasthan to beat Kolkata 6/5 Betfred People seem to have written Rajasthan off pretty quickly here. They did the same last season and look what happened there. Sure they were skittled by Bangalore in their opening match but they fell foul of conditions in a big way that day. There's the potential for the same to happen here but I believe this wicket will stay truer than the Cape Town one did. Looking at the Royals batting lineup and even without Younis Khan and Shane Watson it's still pretty good. Graeme Smith, Yusuf Pathan, Dimi Mascarenhas and Tyron Henderson all score quick runs. Munaf Patel is usually pretty economical with the ball and then there's Warne, the genius so Rajasthan are certainly no alsorans on paper. Kolkata had an impressive win over the Kings XI on Tuesday but that was rain affected so we can't be totally sure how that was going to go. For some reason they seem reluctant to have Mendis and Kartik in the same side. I'd be straight in there with both of them if I was coach. Gayle and McCullum are dynamite at the top of the Knight Riders order but Warne's seen it all before and he'll deal with that with his unique fields. Ganguly and Hodge can both bat but there isn't a huge amount below them which is a worry and if the seamers go round the park it could be too much for Kartik to pull back. If there's a better captain in world cricket than Shane Warne I've not seen him. I know from being a Hampshire fan never to write him off. It was definitely Australia's loss that he never captained them and he can have a huge influence on this match. His side will need lifting but that was only one performance so I'm prepared to go with the Royals here against a side who aren't adverse to the odd shocker or two themselves. 1pt ew D.Mascarenhas Top Rajasthan Batsman 16/1 Coral (1/5 1,2,3) I don't know if Corals don't rate Mascarenhas as a batsman or they think he'll bat at 8 like he does for England. Whatever they think they are wrong. He's a best priced 10/1 win only at the other firms. Dimi came in at 6 in Rajasthan's 1st match but he could well come in higher in the order in this game. He's perfectly suited to twenty20 cricket as he's shown for both England and Hampshire in the past. He's one of few in this lineup that can knock it around and repair an innings and he's up there with Henderson and Pathan in the hitting stakes. It wouldn't surprise me if Warne gets him up the order. He rescued Hampshire under Warne's leadership countless times but wherever Mascarenhas bats in this match 16/1 is just way too high and is worthy of ew support.

[WoodyTHFC]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 Delhi Daredevils to beat Chennai Super Kings 10/11 spo 10 pts Arguably the match of the tournament so far. Teams packed with fantastic talent and no end of terrific hitters. I said on my outright I liked Delhi and I stick by that. In Sehwag and Gambhir they can absolutely blow teams away, even teams with good bowling attacks. In the batting overseas slot they may bring Warner in for this game and the prospect of a trio like that is frightening. Chennai will possibly have to react early here and bring Flintoff into the attack earlier because the likes of Gony and Balaji, who have been alright in the event previously, may not be able to contain the daredevils here if the opening trip really take off. The Chennai batting was a bit disappointing in the first game but was much better after that in their next game. They will look to go after dehli’s bowling which may be added to with McGrath. However in Vettori, Delhi have a major trump card and whilst Chennai also have a similar trump card in Murali, it could well be this battle that is crucial and in this format, where he goes round the park at just 5.5 runs an over, it could be Vettori who wins it and the Delhi Daredevils. Should be a cracker either way and could be a dress rehearsal for later on. Kolkatta Knight Riders to beat Rajasthan Royals 8/11 sj 10 pts Im going against the defending champs in this game. I don’t totally like the ideas Buchanan is trying to install with KKR but they did manage a crucial win in their last game. KKR were well beaten first up but their potentially devastating big hitting duo fired in their next game to win in a shortened format. Kolkatta’s batting is thing after a good front four but tbh I’m not sure about RR batting without a key man for them last year in Watson or for that matter Younis Khan. An awful lot depends on Smith because after that they have a series of hitters: Pathan, Dimi, Henderson but they could easily be hit or miss and as a three they are possibly in too soon, today they could line up 3,4,5 which could be a brilliantly devastating move but equally circumstances may dictate that their natural game is compromised somewhat and that could be important. Also Im not totally sure about the bowling here, any bowling can struggle when Gayle and mccullum get going but its asking a fair bit for someone like Dimi, despite his superb opening spell in the first game to open the bowling imo at this level. Remember what Gayle did to him in an over in the Caribbean. Kolkatta for me here.

[heret0win]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 Chennai in trouble. should of got d.v alot earlier!

[comeonuhull]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 Well thats how to throw a cricket match away. Chennai were cruising at one point when run rate was 8 and a half and just self destructed just like they did at the end of the Delhi innings. How Albie Morkel put down AB De Villiers on 50 i will never know and he got punished to the full.

[kevshat]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 Both matches were thrown away really. One to my advantage and the other not. Rajasthan needed the super over to win but win they did. Hayden top scored pretty easily while Dimi was 2nd at a really decent price. +8.30 for the day so +17.83 for the tournament now.

[Charlie Wong]

Re: Cricket: Indian Premier League 2009 im gutted, Chennai throw it away after taking out Sehwag/Gambhir straight away with the ball and Hayden's knock makes it easy :@ and then Kolkata go down on a super over!:@ fair play to AB and Pathan in both games, some massive blows landed.