It runs from the 27th of August to the 11th of September and will be held in the UAE.

But who is likely to win? If you’re a fan of online cricket betting, you might not like our choice! Read on to find out more.

Which is the Tougher Group?

As any football fan will know, there’s always a Group of Death at any football World Cup.

One that’s obviously stronger than the others and where getting out of it unscathed is an achievement in itself.

So the fact that the two favourites- India and Pakistan– are in the same Group A, catches the eye straight away.

Having said that, those two know that they have the easier ‘third team’ in their Group because that’s the one who has come through qualifying.

For that reason alone (that they didn’t automatically qualify for this competition) you’d think that Pakistan and India will qualify easily for the Super 4 stage, because you just can’t see them losing to a qualifier.

That’s in stark contrast to Group B where Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are all very well-matched. Any two of those three could make it to the next round.

Conclusion: India and Pakistan are almost guaranteed a place in the Super 4, the three teams from Group B, aren’t.

Who’s Likely to Make the Final?

Assuming we accept that India and Pakistan will qualify from Group A, then what might happen next?

The smart money is on the winner of the India v Pakistan match at the Super Four Stage (September 4, don’t miss it!) having one foot in the final, while the loser of that game is likely to beat the other two teams in the Group Stages in their remaining two matches.

So we should have India or Pakistan winning all three matches in the Super Four stage while the other wins their remaining two, leaving the two teams who qualified from Group B to fight out among each other to finish third and avoid the wooden spoon.

Of course, things may not turn out quite like that with any one of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or Afghanistan capable of beating India or Pakistan.

Capable but pretty unlikely.

Assuming we’re right, it would then be an India v Pakistan final, the third time they’d meet in the 2022 edition of the competition.

India or Pakistan?

India have plenty going for them. They’re currently the Number 1 ranked side in the world, the most successful side in the history of the Asia Cup and the winner of the last two editions.

Ominously for everyone else, they’re in fine form, too. They’ve won 10 of their last 12 completed matches, losing only to England and the West Indies.

They also have a really strong record against Pakistan in T20Is, winning six out of nine, with two wins for Pakistan and a tie.

Following their policy of constant rotation in order to both experiment and keep players fresh, they have at least 20 top-class players who they could field at any given time in case of injuries or loss of form.

What about Pakistan?

The men in green are currently third in the ICC T20I rankings. They’ve been extremely good over the last year, winning 11 out of 13.

The only two matches they lost in that period were the semi-final of the 2021 World Cup to Australia in November and then again to Australia in April this year, the most recent T20I they played.

They have a really strong side at present that ticks all the boxes.

They always have good spinners, Shadab Khan offers great balance, Harris Rauf is a real pace threat and they have some power hitters in the middle-order.

But their greatest strength of all is in the Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan opening partnership, arguably the best in the world.

Proof of that is that Azam is ranked Number 1 and Rizwan Number 3 in the ICC T20I rankings.

To have one player in the Top 3 in your side is already a huge positive, to have two is rather special.

And crucially, Pakistan got the monkey off their back when they beat India at the T20 World Cup last year, something they’d never done at a World Cup in either the T20I or ODI formats.

So they’ll believe they can do it again.

There is however one huge Shaheen Shah Afridi-shaped negative.

The brilliant fast bowler is injured, will miss the competition and is in a race against time to be fit for the World Cup later in the year.

Are Bangladesh a Red Herring?

The simple answer is, yes. Despite making the final of the Asia Cup in three of the last four editions, there are reasons to think they may struggle to replicate those feats this time round.

The first is that in two of those three tournaments, they were at home.

The Asia Cup was held in Bangladesh for three straight editions- 2012, 2014 and 2016- and they made the final in the first and third of those.

The Tigers are generally very good at home on spinning tracks but won’t find it so easy in the UAE.

It’s also true that they’re stronger in the ODI format than the T20I one and this time round the 2022 Asia Cup will be a T20I tournament.

They’ll also be without Tamim Iqbal, who is arguably their best batsman ever and has opted to stop playing T20I cricket in a bid to give youngsters a chance.

And finally, they’re in a Group where no match is a gimme. It will be very hard for them to replicate their performances of the last few Asia Cups.

The post Asia Cup Winner Market: India or Pakistan to Win it? appeared first on Bet India.

But which two look like title-winning sides available at attractive odds? Find out our top cricket betting choices for the Hundred’s Winner market below!

Why The Hundred could be even better in 2022

The second season of The Hundred is just around the corner and if the first edition last year was anything to go by, it should be a cracker.

Packed grounds, fervent support, good TV coverage and some of the best white-ball players in the world in action were just some of the reasons why it was such a big success in 2021.

And with Covid-19 less of a potential spoiler than it was last year with a few players opting out because of the pandemic, we should have an even better tournament this year.

The problem is, enjoying the tournament is one thing and predicting its winner is quite another!

What happened in 2021?

The Southern Brave were the inaugural winners of the competition.

They finished as runners-up in the Group Stages, beat the Trent Rockets comfortably in the Eliminator and then posted a total that was too big for the Birmingham Phoenix to chase in the final.

They were a fine all-round team all the way through but their key player was arguably James Vince, who was their top scorer with 229 runs in addition to leading the side well.

Not that their win was any big surprise: they went in as 5.5 favourites.

This is arguably the most difficult white-ball tournament in the world to predict for one very simple reason: we’ve only had one edition.

Why The Hundred is such a tough tournament to predict

Whereas we’ve already had 14 editions of the IPL and 11 of the Big Bash to assess what we make of the different teams, their players, coaches and playing styles, that’s virtually impossible to do after just one season of The Hundred.

A job made even harder by the fact that there have been plenty of changes to the team’s rosters since last season.

So we can’t really use our tried and tested methods of focusing on historic performances, and analysing head-to-head records.

Instead, we pretty much need to focus on quite simply who has the best players and the best balance to their side.

Welsh Fire(power) could blow teams apart

Odds to win: 8.5 with Betway

Fire will have to lick their wounds

The Fire had a poor time of it last season, finishing seventh and winning just three from five.

The clue as to their underperformance was their bowling.

David Payne (who will play for them this year again) was the pick of a bad bunch with just six wickets but they’ve certainly addressed the issue by bringing in three potential overseas match-winners with the ball: Aussie Adam Zampa, Afghan Noor Ahmad and young Pakistani Naseem Shah.

It’s no coincidence they’re all spinners.

The Fire’s home ground of Sophia Gardens is generally a spinner’s wicket and if those three get going, they can keep the runs down.

Payne and the experienced Jake Ball will provide the pace options with all-rounder Josh Cobb also chipping in with a few overs.

So not the absolute best or most varied bowling attack but those spinners could be worth their weight in gold.

English batsmen give them great batting depth

What they were smart about was recognising the need for overseas bowlers rather than batters.

David Miller, a recent IPL winner with Gujarat is the only overseas batsman (other than Leus Du Plooy who is unlikely to play much) and that’s no surprise because they really don’t need anymore.

Jonny Bairstow is the present of English white-bacll cricket while Ollie Pope and Tom Banton are very much the future of it.

Ben Duckett and Joe Clarke have fine records in domestic English cricket while Sam Hain and Cobb can give it a bash down the order.

All in all they have one of the best batting line-ups and that could win them plenty of matches this time round.

Trent Rockets – Beautifully balanced in all regards

Odds to win: 6.5 with Betway

Well-balanced and consistent

If the Fire had a poor season last time out and are likely to be reliant on spin bowling and big hits, then the Rockets are a very different sort of prospect.

For starters, they had a strong showing last season, finishing third in the Group Stages before a bad day at the office in the Eliminator, posting a sub-par score and paying the price against the Southern Brave.

So with quite a few members of last year’s squad staying on, they should at least be consistent again in the Group Stages.

Key to a good campaign is that they have one of the best-balanced sides, with capable and experienced players in just about every role.

Strong Top 3 should give them good starts

Their Top 3 is packed with real specialists of the shortest formats – Alex Hales, Colin Munro and Dawid Malan- and those three will win plenty of games on their own.

As for Joe Root, he’s not normally seen as a particularly fast-scorer, a must in this format, but he may just play more freely with nothing to lose and could be an unlikely star for them.

The likes of Lewis Gregory, Samit Patel and Daniel Sams then offer some good middle-order hitting.

All three will also be important with the ball.

Patel has seen it all before in the county game while Gregory can play good cameos and Sams is currently one of the biggest hitters in the game, so there’s plenty of batting depth if needed.

Sams will probably open the bowling alongside Marchant de Lange, one of last year’s stand-out performers in the competition.

He took 12 wickets in total to finish as the joint top-wicket taker in the tournament. The likes of Luke Wood will be important too with his left-arm seam.

X-Factor Rashid Khan could be the difference

And we’ve saved the best for last.

The Rockets have Rashid Khan back for this campaign after a decent, but not brilliant, first season for him last time.

It’s worth remembering that Khan was the first pick in the original Hundred draft which is the same thing as saying he was the one (available) player in the world the Rockets (who had first pick) most wanted of anyone.

Interestingly, Khan isn’t a prolific winner of T20 franchise tournaments despite going close a few times.

But he did win the IPL this year with the Gujarat Titans, where he was a key player, so maybe that’s what will kickstart a series of tournament wins for him.

And he may have a big role to play with the bat, too.

After years of promise, he finally seems to be able to play more significant innings and we may see him bat as high as five here.

He’s the X-Factor man in a side that already looks very good on paper.

Recommended bets:

1. Back the Welsh Fire to win The Hundred @ 8.5 with Betway
2. Back the Trent Rockets to win the Hundred @ 6.5 with Betway

Have you read our review of Betway yet?

We look at all aspects of one of India’s best-loved betting sites, including the bonuses on offer, the sports you can bet on, features such as live betting and live streaming and other unique features that make it a highly-recommended betting site.

The post The Hundred: Rockets Can Take Off, Welsh Fire’s Batting Could Fire appeared first on Bet India.

Here’s all you need to know about the Series, why it was postponed, the latest team news and of course, the all-important betting odds ahead of the match.

Why are England and India playing a one-off Test?

Strictly speaking, it’s not a one-off Test. The Series was poised at 2-1 to India last summer when there was an outbreak of Covid in the Indian camp.

With the IPL (which itself had been suspended due to Covid issues) just about to start, the BCCI decided it simply couldn’t risk restarting the T20 event with the risk of India’s big-name players not being able to play for the first couple of weeks should they have got Covid.

After much deliberation (England were initially awarded a win in the Fifth Test), the ICC decided the best solution was to conclude the Series the following year. So here we are.

What’s the current state of the Series?

It’s 2-1 to India.

After a draw at Trent Bridge, India went 1-0 up at Lord’s after England were all out for just 120 chasing 272.

But England fought back to win at Headingley after posting a big 432 and only batting once.

England dismissed India for just 78 and then 278 to win by an innings and 76 runs.

But it was all India again at The Oval.

Despite being bowled out for just 191 in the first innings, they then posted 466 including a superb 127 by Rohit Sharma. Chasing 368, England were all out for 210 after a good start.

Despite their 2-1 lead, there was some controversy surrounding India’s non-inclusion of Ravi Ashwin.

Ranked the Number 2 Test bowler in the world at the time and with five Test centuries to his name, India preferred to go with the three-dimensional Ravindra Jadeja instead, as their main spinner.

When and where will the Fifth Test take place?

The Fifth Test will be at Edgbaston in Birmingham and will run from Friday July 1 at 14:30 IST to July 5.

It’s a quick turnaround for England, whose Third Test against New Zealand only finished on Monday. They won the Series 3-0.

Are there any significant changes in the sides?

Yes, lots.

Since playing and winning that Fourth Test last summer, India have replaced Virat Kohli as skipper with Rohit Sharma after Kohli resigned the captaincy following a Series defeat in South Africa at the start of 2022.

They also have a different head coach in place with Rahul Dravid taking over from Ravi Shastri in November 2021.

Plenty of change in the England camp, too.

Ben Stokes was appointed the new skipper after Joe Root’s resignation following a Series defeat in the West Indies and Brendon McCullum came in as the Test coach when Chris Silverwood was sacked following a heavy defeat in the recent Ashes Series over the winter.

That Stokes/McCullum partnership has started extremely well, playing attacking and winning cricket against New Zealand.

How have India prepared for the game?

India played a warm-up match against Leicestershire in the week before the Test. But this was no ordinary match.

In an attempt to get as much practice time as possible under their belts, Chet Pujara and Rishabh Pant played for Leicestershire, Ravindra Jadeja batted twice in the same innings (remarkably scoring exactly 56 not out on both occasions) and Shreyas iyer also batted twice in the same innings.

Like Jadeja, he also scored the same number of runs in both innings (32).

All of Jadeja, Pant (76), Srikhar Barat (70), Virat Kohli (67) and Shubman Gill (62) scored half-centuries with the bowlers sharing the wickets around.

The match ended a draw but that’s almost an irrelevance with the Indian players getting some much-needed game time in English conditions.

Are India at full strength?

The only player who would have almost certainly played who isn’t available is vice-captain KL Rahul.

Rahul missed the recent T20 Series against South Africa with a persistent groin injury and is in the process of having surgery on it in Germany.

But there are also a couple of Covid-related cases that have created a headache for coach Rahul Dravid.

Ravi Ashwin arrived late in the UK after getting Covid in India and played a part in the warm-up match, taking two wickets in the fourth innings. But he’s no certainty to play in the game anyway.

As per above, last year India preferred to go with Jadeja and given they’re unlikely to play two spinners, it could be a straight shootout between the two of them for a place in the side.

But they also have an issue with the skipper.

Rohit Sharma also tested positive for Covid on Saturday and is in a race against time to be available to play the match.

If he doesn’t make it, Mayank Agarwal will play after traveling to the UK on an emergency basis.

KL Rahul is the official vice-captain and is unavailable so Pant would be favourite to lead if Sharma isn’t able to play.

What are the England v India 5th Test betting odds?

Pari Match have England as 2.1 favourites, with India out at 2.7 and the draw available at 4.49.

And here’s our Pari Match review, by the way.

There’s some rain forecast for most of the five days at Edgbaston but nothing too bad.

England will have plenty of supporters at those odds given the incredible turnaround in their performances over the past month or so against New Zealand.

They not only won 3-0 against the World Test champions but played positive, fearless cricket along the way.

They have in-form players with both bat and ball. That includes Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root, who each hit two centuries and a fifty in those three games and Ollie Pope, who struck a century and a further 82.

With the ball, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Jack Leach and Matthew Poots all took at least 11 wickets in the New Zealand Series.

As for India, in addition to some injury/Covid concerns, their biggest challenge will be getting used to English conditions quickly.

We’ll have a full preview of the Fifth Test available later on in the week.

The post All you need to know ahead of the England v India Fifth Test appeared first on Bet India.

But with four completed games in the Series after India recovered from 2-0 down to be level at 2-2 going into the decider, which India players have improved their chances of being on the plane to the 2022 WC?

And which have done more harm than good to their chances?

Good Series

Ishan Kishan- Consistency at last

It’s been a tough few months for Ishan Kishan.

The most expensive player at the IPL auction after being re-bought by Mumbai, he was part of an Indians side that flopped at IPL 2022 and inevitably it affected his own form with the bat.

But he made the most of his chances for India against SA with scores of 76, 34, 54, 27 and 15, a Series where he got starts in every game.

Two fifties in five games is always a fine effort and those fifties came at strike rates of 158 and 154 respectively, so at lightning pace.

At the moment he’s still behind Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul in the pecking order for the opener’s slot but his performances will have caught the Selectors’ eye.

Dinesh Karthik- Finisher at his finest

The finisher role- batting at six or seven with a view to making the most of the ‘death overs’- is a very specialised one.

Batting first you’re looking for as many ‘death over’ boundaries as possible, batting second you’re looking to get your side home, knowing the target you’re chasing.

So it’s just the nature of playing that role that sometimes you don’t come into the game much, if you’re not needed, because your side hasn’t lost many wickets.

And that was the case in this Series with Karthik. In games one and three he only faced a few balls because he came in at the end of the innings. And in game five he didn’t bat at all, with the game washed out.

But look at his impact in games two and four.

In the 2nd T20I, he hit a fine unbeaten 30 off 21, then went a step further in game four with 55 off 27.

That knock was ultimately the difference between the two teams and won him the man-of-the-match award.

India need to make sure he plays at the World Cup because he’s the best finisher they’ve got.

Bhuvi Kumar- Experience goes a long way

Some may have felt that Bhuvi Kumar’s time was gone for India in T20Is.

With strong IPL performances by the likes of Umran Malik, Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan and Harshal Patel, plus the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami still around, Bhuvi was looking like he may not play for India so much anymore.

But the SRH man ended up being the Player of the Series.

He didn’t get off to the best start with 1-43 in the first match as India lost, but he hit back.

He was then excellent with 4/13 in game two, which they also ended up losing.

And then he was brilliantly economical in game three with 1/20, before going for just eight runs in two overs in game four. Both contributions were essential in India’s wins.

His ability to swing the new ball and then come back and bowl two overs at the death is as valuable now as it’s ever been.

Bad Series

If you ever wanted evidence that a year is a long time in cricket, then look no further than Rishabh Pant.

A year ago he was in excellent touch in all formats and had just been promoted to skipper of the Delhi Capitals in the absence of the injured Shreyas Iyer.

He wasn’t in quite the same form in Tests and ODIs as this time last year but it’s in T20 that he’s really struggled.

He had a lean season with Delhi in 2022, who failed to make the Playoffs, and at times his captaincy came under scrutiny.

But with Virat Kohli having resigned theT20 captaincy, regular skipper Rohit Sharma rested and vice-captain KL Rahul injured, he was handed the captaincy for this Series against South Africa.

If his captaincy was just about ok, his batting certainly wasn’t.

Coming in at the all-important number four spot, he managed scores of just 29, 5, 6 and 17 in the four completed games.

That’s just not good enough with the likes of Shreyas Iyer, Sky Yadav and Sanju Samson (plus of course, Kohli) around to play in that middle-order.

Given he’s not captain for India and that the likes of Ishan Kishan and Dinesh Karthik can keep wicket, and you can see why Pant may be deemed surplus to requirements.

He’ll need to find some runs sooner rather than later if he’s to make India’s XI at the World Cup.

Ruturaj Gaikwad- International cricket proving to be a challenge

The game of cricket is littered with players who can perform in domestic cricket year after year but struggle to take the step up at international level.

Let’s hope that isn’t the story with Gaikwad.

Last year he was the IPL Orange Cap winner as CSK won the IPL yet again and this time round, despite CSK not making the Playoffs, he at least top-scored for Chennai again across the whole season.

But what he can do for Chennai, he can’t seem to do for India.

Across eight matches in his T20I career so far, he’s scored just the one international fifty, a fine 57 in the third game of the Series just gone by against South Africa.

But his T20I average stands at just 16.87, almost half of what it is at T20 level (33.84). His strike rate at international level (123) is also considerably lower than at domestic level (132).

His four other scores in the Series were 23, 1, 5 and 10, proof that he just hasn’t got going away from the IPL and this despite batting in the easiest place to get runs: at the top of the order.

To make matters worse, Rohit Sharma, Kishan and KL Rahul are all opening batsmen who were ahead of Gaikwad in the Selectors’ minds anyway.

So with Rohit and Rahul absent, this really was a missed opportunity for Gaikwad.

We’ll have to wait and see if he gets another chance but at least he’s in the squad to play Ireland in Ireland next month, in a two-match T20I Series.

India World Cup favourites

We’ll have to wait and see which of Kishan, Kumar, Karthik, Pant and Gaikwad make the plane to Australia but here’s what we do know: India are favourites to win the T20 World Cup, at odds of 4.0 with 10CRIC.

Next in the betting is Australia (4.35), England (4.5) and Pakistan (7.00).

It’s somewhat surprising that India are favourites.

This is the same India who failed to make the semi-finals last time out, crashed out in the semis to the West Indies in 2016 and has only ever made two finals, one of which they lost.

Whether India go deep or have another tournament to forget may well depend on whether they pick the right players going forward.

The post India T20 World Cup Squad: Who shone and who flopped against South Africa?  appeared first on Bet India.

After 14 Group Stage matches per side, we’ve found the last four. In order of how they finished, from first to fourth, they were: Gujarat Titans, Rajasthan Royals, Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Falling by the wayside were last year’s champions CSK who could only manage to finish ninth, the most successful side in the IPL- the Mumbai Indians– who finished rock bottom and last year’s finalists the Kolkata Knight Riders, who couldn’t do any better than seventh.

The star-studded batting line-up of the Punjab Kings fell two points short of a playoff spot, while Delhi failed to win their must-win match against Mumbai and also missed out. Keep reading for our IPL betting options ahead of the playoffs and, of course, the final!

The importance of the Top 2 finish

Making the Playoffs is only half the battle. Because there’s a huge difference between finishing in the Top 2 and finishing third or fourth.

The teams finishing in the Top 2 (Gujarat and Rajasthan) will play each other in Qualifier 1 and the winner of that goes straight to the final. But the loser of that Qualifier 1 gets another bite of the cherry.

That’s because they’ll stay back to play the winner of the Eliminator, contested between Lucknow and Bangalore. The winner of Qualifier 2 is then the second side to make the final.

In summary, those finishing in the Top 2 need to either win two in a row (Qualifier 1 plus final) or two from three (lose Qualifier 1, win Qualifier 2, win final) while RCB are LSG will need to win three in a row (Eliminator, Qualifier 2 and then the final).

The curse of the Group Winner

You’d have thought that the winner of the Group Stages would often go on to win the whole thing. But think again.

Since 2011 when the two Qualifier matches and the Eliminator match replaced the format where it was just two straight semi-finals, the Group Stage winner has only gone on to win the IPL three times, which is just 3/10.

Quite why that’s happened so seldomly is hard to work out.

Maybe the sides peak too soon and then find it hard to keep those levels up once they get to the Playoffs. Or maybe it’s just a freakish occurrence.

Either way, it doesn’t bode particularly well for the Gujarat Titans. The Titans, by the way, lost to RCB so come into this match on the back of a defeat.

They’re the 2.5 favourites with Betway but we can find a better bet than that.

And here’s our Betway review where we tell you why we think this is one of the world’s best online betting sites.

Eliminator route is a struggle

And if there’s a sort of curse affecting the side who finishes top, then pure logic suggests it’s even harder to win the IPL when you finish outside the Top 2.

As we’ve just seen, you’ll need to win three games in a row to win it via the Eliminator and given those three games are against the best sides in the competition and you can see how hard it is to do.

That’s why only once since 2011 has the side fishing outside the Top 2 gone on to win the IPL that season.

Given that RCB (odds of 6.0) have been incredibly inconsistent all season, mixing up strong performances with very disappointing ones, and those IPL odds don’t make much appeal.

Three wins in a row looks a step too far for a team who is probably extremely lucky to have even made it this far already.

Lucknow (also odds of 6.0) look a better side than Bangalore and should at least win the Eliminator against Faf du Plessis’ men to give themselves a shot at making the final via the Qualifier 2.

But they’ve struggled a bit themselves, especially when KL Rahul has got out cheaply, so it may be out of their reach to win the whole of the IPL from this position, as well.

All falling into place for Rajasthan Royals

We’ve said already that the Group Stage winner has gone on to win just 3/10 since 2011.

So what about the runners-up from the Group Stages? Seven times in the past 10 seasons the runners-up have gone on to win it.

That’s good news for Rajasthan, then.

We’ve already said we prefer them to Gujarat in our Titans v Rajasthan match preview but it could be worth pushing the boat out and going for them to win the IPL outright at odds of 2.75 rather than just taking the 2.05 that they beat the Titans.

In Jos Buttler, they have a hot-favourite to be the Orange Cap winner and in Yuzvendra Chahal they also have the favourite to go on and win the Purple Cap, so that’s a pretty good start.

But they have other players come into form at just the right time.

Ravi Ashwin is fresh from a superb all-around performance against CSK where he bowled well and batted beautifully, youngster Yashasvi Jaiswal has batted well the last couple of matches, while with the ball Trent Boult has carried on taking early wickets and Obed McCoy has done well in the death overs.

So plenty of things are going in the Royals’ favour as we reach the business end of the tournament and they could just be the team to beat.

The post IPL 2022 Playoffs Betting: Royals the team to beat  appeared first on Bet India.

It all makes Mumbai Indians the most successful side in the IPL, the glitzy star-studded side from the Bollywood capital who had this IPL business all worked out better than anyone else.

Or did they? 2021 was already a warning sign that things were on the wane as they failed to make the Playoffs as defending champions. But 2022 was a whole lot worse.

Going in as defending champions and a favourite on the online cricket satta bazar, they’re zero from eight and in risk of putting in the worst performance ever in an IPL season. So the question is, what went wrong?

The Curious Case of Jofra Archer

One of the interesting aspects of the Mega Auction was the need for teams to plan for the next few years.

You bought a player not just with 2022 in mind but the next three or four years. Fine.

In fact, it was Mumbai’s planning for the future by buying the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Sky Yadav, the Pandya brothers and Ishan Kishan that saw them enjoy so much success between 2017 and 2020.

And it was with the future in mind that they bought Jofra Archer for 8 Crore, making him the joint-fifth most expensive player (including retained players) at Mumbai.

Except they knew 100% he wasn’t going to play in 2022 because of injury.

And it’s certainly not 100% that he’ll play next year either because the 2020 IPL Player of the Tournament continues to struggle with injury and hasn’t played any cricket for almost a year.

Archer may yet come good for Mumbai.

But right now, that’s 8 Crore that’s wasted on a player who no-one knows when he will be available.

The Ishan Kishan Gamble Gone Wrong

Speaking of expensive players, no-one was more expensive at the 2022 IPL auction than the 23-year old batsman/keeper Ishan Kishan, who went for 15.25 Crore, second only to Rohit Sharma at Mumbai in terms of salary, and the sixth best paid player at the tournament.

Kishan was another curious case as a player they didn’t retain but then went off and paid over the odds for at the auction.

At 23 you could see why they wanted him onboard for the next few years as an opening batsman and keeper.

Now, hindsight is 20/20 (or T20, to use a bad pun) as they say but after a fantastic season in 2020 when he was the fifth-highest runscorer at the tournament, he’d had a lean season in 2021, at one stage even being dropped for a lack of runs.

You can sort of see why they were so desperate for him but it just hasn’t paid off. After a strong start with back-to-back fifties, the runs have dried up.

Here are his last six scores: 14, 26, 3, 13, 0 and 8. He’s hit just three sixes all season and his pedestrian, insecure and confused 8 off 20 against Lucknow on Sunday was a contributing factor to yet another defeat.

He’ll come good at one stage or another but the pressure of being keeper and opener, not to mention that price tag, all proved to be too much for Kishan this season.

Batsmen’s Form Deserted Them

Tilak Varma, one of the very few positives to come out of their season, has more than done his bit: two fifties, excellent average of 45, super strike rate of 140, 13 sixes.

Those are the numbers you’d expect from a proven IPL star like Glenn Maxwell, Shreyas Iyer or Faf du Plessis.

We can also excuse South African prodigy Dewan Brevis, still only 18. He may not have got to 50 yet but made quickfire contributions of 29, 49 and 31 with that strike rate sky high. He’s one for the future.

And finally, we’ll accept that Sky Yadav has been his usual reliable self. Hard to argue with an average of almost 48 and a strike rate of 151.

But the other batsmen have let the side down. Varma, Yadav and the aforementioned Kishan each hit two fifties but no-one else did.

Where are Rohit Sharma’s good starts? He’s India’s T20 captain after all.

Where are Kieron Pollard’s strong finishes? He has a top score of 25 for the season despite being one of their retained players.

Kishan, as we’ve already said, has been a disappointment.

Tim David only had two chances after being yet another expensive purchase but didn’t make the most of them.

You’re not going to win many matches when just about all your batsmen are out-of-form.

Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail

Chahal and Ashwin at Rajasthan, Narine and Chakravarthy at KKR, Hasaranga at RCB, Bishnoi at Lucknow, Rashid Khan at Gujarat…have you spotted the connection yet?

Every other IPL side has one, in some cases two, world-class spinners in the side.

The only possible exception is CSK who have Ravindra Jadeja, a decent spinner but not a game-changing one, in T20 cricket.

And CSK are almost in the same position as Mumbai are, just to prove the point.

In the past Mumbai had Rahul Chahar.

Ok, not in the same class as Rashid Khan or Sunil Narine but for the past three seasons he took almost exactly a wicket a game, with a very decent economy rate.

Mumbai seemed to ignore the need for a top-class spinner. That they paid just 1.6 Crore for Murugan Ashwin tells its own story.

As it happens, Ashwin has been decent with six wickets in six games and an economy rate of under 8.

And youngster HR Shokeen has been good too, since coming in for Ashwin.

In two matches his economy rate has been excellent even if he went wicketless. Another one for the future.

But you can’t help but think that a truly world-class spinner could have made a big difference this season.

They Didn’t have a Clue who Their Best XI Was

Mumbai’s squad had 25 players in it. So far, they’ve used 18 of them.

To put that into perspective, the Lucknow Super Giants have used just 15 and Gujarat 16.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with using lots of members of your squad depending on form, availability, injuries and conditions.

Tim David, who’d been in super form in T20 tournaments all over the world and cost a fortune, was dropped after two games.

Daniel Sams was also dropped after a slow start, was eventually recalled and played well in his second spell.

Tymal Mills played, was dropped, played again, was dropped again. You get the picture.

If Mumbai have accepted their fate and are already preparing for next year, that’s fair enough.

Then they should carry on making changes including, wait for it, letting someone come in for Kieron Pollard.

But for the most part, it smelt of desperation, of a team badly prepared and who hadn’t quite got the auction right.

Best Bets for Mumbai

It’s impossible for them to make the Playoffs and the IPL betting odds on them finishing rock bottom are too short for it to be worth it.

But there might be a decent one on the Mumbai top batsman (for the season) market, with Betway.

• Tilek Varma is the 1.9 favourite with 272 runs.
• But at 3.0 with Betway, you can back Sky Yadav.

Sky missed two matches with injury or would probably be ahead of Varma by now.

He’s an absolute class act and looks in decent form. He also tends to bat a place higher than Varma so should get more time at the crease. All in all, the cream should rise to the top.

The post IPL 2022: Why did the Mumbai Indians Flop? appeared first on Bet India.

After the introduction of two new teams, the Mega Auction that saw most teams experience huge personnel changes to the extent that some of the are almost unrecognizable and the use of grounds rarely used in the IPL, it’s no surprise that some interesting things have been going on.

Here’s what you need to know if you missed some of the big IPL stories so far, before we know the outcome of Tuesday’s match.

Newbies starting well

New franchises Gujarat and Lucknow have started well.  Gujarat are three from four, Lucknow are three from five.

It’s hard enough to start well with so many changes as an established IPL team but it’s even harder to do so as a completely new team.

But the two newbies have impressed.

Gujarat will rely heavily on their world-class bowling trio of Rashid Khan, Lockie Ferguson and Mohammed Shami plus the all-round skills of Hardik Pandya to secure plenty of wins.

But their batting looks a little weak in the absence of a world class batter.

Lucknow’s Performace

Lucknow, on the other hand, look strong as an all-round unit. It may lack three world class bowlers like Gujarat have but they have a top drawer opening partnership in KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock, great balance with Jason Holder, Marcus Stoinis and Deepak Hooda, while youngsters Ravi Bishnoi and Ayush Badoni have already impressed.

Betway make it 7.5 Lucknow and 8.0 Gujarat for the 2022 IPL title.

If the Titans win their next game they’ll be in an excellent position but of the two, the Super Giants look better prepared for an assault on the title.

Here’s our Betway review where we discuss all the different features of one of India’s best-loved betting sites.

Spinners big favourites for Purple Cap

The top two wicket-takers in the tournament and three of the top six are spinners.

Leading the way is Yuzvendra Chahal with 11 wickets, after just four games. The former RCB man was snapped up by Rajasthan for big money and he’s justifying his fee already. He was man-of-the-match in Sunday’s win over Lucknow and is looking in fantastic form.

Hot on his heels with 10 is Kuldeep Yadav. The left-arm spinner has had a tough time of it over the last year with injuries and loss of form but is making up for lost time with some superb performances after leaving KKR and going to Delhi.

Also on 10 is pace bowler Umesh Yadav of KKR, but so is Sri Lankan leg spinner Hasaranga da Silva, who may well add to that tally against CSK on Tuesday.

So it’s very much advantage to the spinners right now but the stats aren’t on their side.

In the history of the IPL, only Pragyan Ojha (2010) and Imran Tahir (2019) have won the Purple Cap from among spinners.

Openers with monopoly of Orange Cap

The top four batsmen in the competition are all openers.

Here are their respective number of runs and the number of matches they’ve played so far: Jos Buttler (218, four matches), Quinton de Kock (188, five), Shubman Gill (187, four) and Ishan Kishan (175, four).

None of this should come as any great surprise.

In every edition of the IPL to date, the winner of the Orange Cap has been an opening batsman.

We talk about the importance of being an opening batsman in both individual matches and tournament top batsman winners in our top batsman guide; it’s just about the most important factor of all.

So if you’d rather stay away from the favourites and want to take a gamble on classy openers at far bigger prices who may yet come good, here are a few to consider: Shikhar Dhawan of Punjab, Abhishek Sharma of SRH and last but not least, KL Rahul.

A reminder that Rahul has been in the Top 3 for the Orange Cap over the last three seasons, winning it in 2020.

So you don’t want to discount him just yet, despite a slowish start that has yielded just 132 runs from five games.

SRH far better value than Mumbai

Mumbai’s race may already be run. Four games, four losses. Their start has been so poor that in a bid to change their fortunes, they played just two overseas players in their last match, leaving out the likes of Tim David, David Sams and Tymal Mills.

It didn’t work because they lost that one, too.

But curiously, at odds of 15.0 they’re shorter in the betting than SRH.

That makes little sense because Mumbai have it all to do after being zero from four, while SRH may have lost their first two but bounced back to win their next two. That included an excellent win as outsiders against Gujarat, tipped up in our SRH v Gujarat preview at odds of 2.26.

Mumbai would have to go on a run of at least three unbeaten games up next to get back in contention while SRH are bang in contention.

Crucially, they’ve seriously improved by the game, putting in their worst performance in their first match and arguably their best in that win over the Titans with a good bowling performance, followed by a pretty clinical chase.

If they keep on improving, they could yet surprise some people. They have after all, won it before.

Chasers still in pole position

So far 65% of matches in this season’s IPL have been won by the team batting second. After the first week, the percentage was actually significantly higher than even that.

There are two reasons for that.

The first is dew. You can read about the so-called ‘dew factor’ in our guide to T20 betting but here’s what you need to know in a nutshell.

Dew only appears in the evening so in IPL day-night matches it’s only present in the second innings. So there’s normally no dew in the first innings, but there’s plenty in the second.

The dew makes the ball hard to grip, particularly for spinners, leading to less control, which can lead to wides, bowls that are too full or too wide, easy pickings for batsmen.

So it’s far harder bowling with the wet ball in the second innings than a dry one in the first.

The other factor is just a general preference in T20 betting for batting second, based on the idea that it’s easier to know what your target is and get there, than trying to set and chase one.

That’s what happened in the World Cup just gone, where just about every match, including the two semis and the final, were won by the chasing side.

So if in doubt at the break, go with the side batting second.

The post IPL: Spinners Dominate, Chasers tend to win, SRH aren’t Done Just Yet  appeared first on Bet India.

The biggest domestic cricket competition in the UK returns for its second season, and the build-up is beginning in earnest – starting with The Hundred draft.

Who are the major moneymakers? Which side can be most satisfied with their work? Is there a franchise that receives a C- on their recruitment report?

We break down everything you need to know about The Hundred draft from 2022 below and some free cricket betting tips on the house.

The Hundred Auction Headlines

There is one significant difference between the Indian Premier League and The Hundred when it comes to player recruitment. The Hundred is a draft rather than an auction, which means teams take turns to pick the best talents rather than engage in outright bidding wars.

Before the draft had taken place, teams could pick two centrally-contracted England internationals from their catchment area. For example, the Northern Superchargers could choose from Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, and Joe Root.

Before we get into the draft headlines, let’s see which teams opted for which centrally contracted England international players:

• London Spirit – Zak Crawley, Mark Wood
• Welsh Fire – Jonny Bairstow, Ollie Pope
• Manchester Originals – Jos Buttler, Ollie Robinson
• Northern Superchargers – Ben Stokes
• Oval Invincibles – Sam Curran, Rory Burns
• Trent Rockets – Joe Root, Dawid Malan
• Birmingham Phoenix – Chris Woakes, Jack Leach
• Southern Brave – Jofra Archer

The Most Expensive Signings Per Franchise

The maximum a franchise could spend on a single player is £125,000, and teams could only purchase a maximum of two players at this price.

Find the list of the most expensive Hundred players – all costing £125,000 – in the list below:

• London Spirit: Kiron Pollard, Liam Dawson
• Welsh Fire: Joe Clarke, Tom Banton
• Manchester Originals: Andre Russell, Laurie Evans
• Northern Superchargers: Adil Rashid, Dwayne Bravo#
• Oval Invincibles: Jason Roy, Sunil Narine
• Trent Rockets: Rashid Khan, Tom Kohler-Cadmore
• Birmingham Phoenix: Liam Livingstone, Matthew Wade
• Southern Brave: Marcus Stoinis, Quentin de Kock

Which Team Had The Best Hundred Draft?

In this writer’s humble opinion, it’s a toss-up between the Oval Invincibles and the Trent Rockets – but I’m going to stick with the former.

After playing their right-to-match card to retain West Indies star Sunil Narine, they managed to add serious firepower in Rilee Rossouw (£60,000) and Hilton Cartwright (£50,000) to fill the three overseas spots in what look like cut-price deals!

It’s the hoovering up of domestic talent that catches the eye! The Curran brothers will provide wicket-taking prowess and control, while Saqid Mahmood – bought for £75,000 – is the pointy end of their bowling attack.

Jason Roy and Sam Billings are the main stars of a line-up that bats deep – with Rory Burns the glue at the top of the order. There is good balance throughout the side, and I can see them competing for honours at the business end of the season.

The Hundred Draft Headlines

There were many stories to emerge, so I have boiled down the headlines for you!

• The franchises still have two wildcard picks of an overseas player and a domestic player. These picks will happen closer to the start of the tournament.
• Teams opt to spend big on domestic players that will definitely be available rather than focus on foreign players whose availability is less guaranteed.
• Kieron Pollard was the first pick for the London Spirit. Can the Twenty20 stalwart repay the faith?
• International stars David Warner, Aaron Finch, Chris Gayle, and Babar Azam are players to miss out on the tournament after failing to find a franchise.

My Early Pick For The Hundred

I will be placing a pre-tournament bet on the Oval Invincibles as my main wager and a smaller stake on the Trent Rockets.

Early odds suggest the Invincibles will be available at 7.0, while you can back the Rockets to win at 7.0. I will be placing my bet with Pure Win – they don’t currently have odds on the competition up yet, but they tend to provide the best ante-post cricket bets in the industry. You can find out more about the site by reading our comprehensive Pure Win review.

The post The Hundred Draft 2022: All the Top Highlights! appeared first on Bet India.

Under previous editions, teams could only use one review to challenge an umpire’s decision – the reasoning for the extra review is not clear, but it will have a major impact on how captain’s approach their on field tactics and could affect in-play IPL betting strategies.

Critics are arguing the move may lead to more breaks in play and invoke less fluidity throughout the game.

Why The Change In Rules?

The reasoning is simple – to reduce the likelihood of on-field errors by umpires. There is so much prize money at stake for each of the 10 franchises that any move to ensure a fair outcome is likely to be welcomed by the majority of teams.

The standard of officiating during last year’s Indian Premier League came under fire from many observers, with some key decisions in crucial games proving controversial.

Three examples of poor umpiring in the IPL 21 include:

Punjab Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders: Rahul Tripathi’s Ghost Catch

The PBKS’ captain KL Rahul was given not out in a clash against the KKR, despite Rahul Tripathi appearing to take a legitimate catch in the penultimate over of the match. Former England spinner Graeme Swann called it “one of the worst bits of third umpiring” he has ever seen in commentary of the game.

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Punjab Kings: Ultra Edge Scandal

A reverse sweep from RCB opener Devdutt Padikkal apparently nicked behind leaving the PBKS to refer to the third umpire after the on-field decision was not out. Ultra Edge showed a clear spike, but the Third Umpire decided there was not enough evidence to overturn the original decision.

Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Capitals: A No Ball Turns Into A Wide

In the final over of DC’s innings against the CSK, Dwayne Bravo put a delivery so far wide of the mark that it didn’t even land on the wicket strip. Under the laws of the game, this is a no ball – but after originally awarding it as such, the on-field umpire changed their decision to a wide. An angry Ricky Ponting remonstrated with officials, angry his side could not take advantage of the risk-free opportunity a free hit allows.

What Other IPL Rule Changes Are There?

New Covid-19 allowances are in place this season – previously, a franchise that could not take to the field due to breakout infection within the team or find an appropriate rescheduling date would lose the two points.

Now, any failure to reschedule a match will be referred to the IPL Technical Committee to provide a decision that is final and binding.

There is also a new catch rule in place! The crossing over law no longer applies, as the IPL follows in the footsteps of the successful trial in The Hundred in the UK.

According to the new rule, a new batter will always take guard for the next delivery, regardless of whether two batters crossed while the ball was in the air.

The post Additional DRS Review On Field Tops List Of New IPL Rules appeared first on Bet India.

He’s just the latest top quality English T20 player to miss the IPL this season and the second in the space of a couple of weeks to pinpoint bio-bubbles at the reason for his change of heart, after Jason Roy.

Here are the English players missing out on IPL action this season and their reasons for doing so.

Alex Hales (Kolkata Knight Riders)

Hales was playing for the Sydney Thunder in the BBL when he got Covid, meaning he missed a few matches as a result of that.

He then went straight from that bio-bubble to another in the PSL, where he played nine matches for Islamabad United.

Hales was good in the PSL, hitting three fifties and never being dismissed for single figures in nine matches, but he withdrew midway through.

Even at that stage, he was complaining of bio-bubble fatigue, before surprisingly returning to play the Playoffs.

His side were eliminated by Lahore in the Qualifier 2.

But three months of bio-bubbles across two competitions took their toll and Hales has decided he needs a rest from them.

Analysis

It’s a real shame for Hales because he’s only ever played a handful of matches in the IPL over the years. At SRH, to be more precise.

This would have been one of his last chances to prove himself against the very best, not to mention a last-ditch opportunity to remind the England selectors that he might deserve one final chance to play for his country, especially in a World Cup year.

It also deprives KKR of an in-form batsman with a sky high strike rate, albeit one with little experience of playing in India.

The only winner to come out of this is Aaron Finch, who was brought in as his replacement, on the same money (1.5 Crore) as Hales.

Having played a few games in 2020 for RCB, Finch wasn’t bought by anyone in 2021 and had also originally gone unsold in the 2022 Mega Auction.

But as one of the few overseas world-class openers in T20 cricket who wasn’t bought, Australia skipper Finch was then brought in as Hales’ replacement and will surely open the batting for them, alongside the impressive Venkatesh Iyer.

It will give Finch some much-needed game time at the highest level ahead of the World Cup.

KKR are 11.0 with 10CRIC to win what would be their third IPL title.

Jason Roy (Gujarat Titans)

Roy withdrew for very much the same reason as Hales: bubble fatigue. It’s a concern that cricketers seem to be so mentally affected by being in them and something England interim coach Paul Collingwood discussed when Roy withdrew last week.

But Roy went a step further than Hales, saying he had taken an indefinite break from cricket.

So it will be interesting to see if he plays The Hundred, the CPL or in other T20 leagues before the World Cup, where he will surely feature for England.

Like Hales, he had been playing in the PSL in February.

And like Hales, he put on a good show in his six games, scoring 116 in his first match and 82 in his last, as the Gladiators failed to make it out of the Group Stages.

Analysis

Roy was replaced by Afghan wicketkeeper batsman Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the Gujarat squad.

Roy was picked up for 2 Crore, while Gurbaz will cost Gujarat his auction base price of 50 Lakh.

Gurbaz is famous for his high-risk, no-nonsense approach to opening the batting where he boasts an excellent strike rate and is seen as one of the game’s most exciting young talents.

But Gurbaz may not get too much game time.

They’ll probably open with Aussie Matthew Wade and Indian youngster Shubman Gill, with Rashid Khan, Lockie Ferguson and one of Dominic Drakes/Alazarri Joseph completing the quartet of overseas players.

But Wade will miss the first week of the IPL on international duty so Gurbaz could get a couple of games before Wade is available.

Gujarat are one of the big outsiders for IPL glory, at best odds of 10.0 with Pure Win.

Here’s our Pure Win review, where we explain why we think they’re solid, reliable and trustworthy as a betting site for Indian customers.

Ben Stokes

The former Rajasthan Royals all-rounder wasn’t retained at the end of the 2021 season, where he played just one game, breaking his hand in the only match he played.

Stokes played little or no cricket for the rest of 2021, nursing his broken hand and feeling like he needed a break from cricket for his mental health, as well.

That included missing out on the World Cup, before an ill-fated return to play in the Ashes. England lost 4-0 and Stokes looked rusty and underprepared.

Which is exactly why Stokes opted out of being in the Mega Auction.

With enough money in the bank, he’s focussed on getting back to his best in order to keep on playing Test cricket, with the other formats more of an after-thought.

Jofra Archer (Mumbai Indians)

The case of Archer is a very different one.

He’s hardly played at all for the best part of 18 months so it was a big surprise when Mumbai paid a small fortune for him in the Auction.

They dished out 8 Crore for the England fast bowler, knowing that he’s highly unlikely to feature in 2022 at all.

So the plan seems to be that they bought him with a view to the seasons after this one.

But they’ll have to wait and see whether he returns to the fitness and playing levels he reached in the past, like when he was the Most Valuable Player of the 2020 edition.

With or without Archer, Mumbai are the 5.5 favourites with 10 CRIC.

Eoin Morgan/Adil Rashid/Dawid Malan

There are plenty more English players who put their names in the hat for the 2022 Auction and who weren’t bought. But these are probably the three most high-profile names.

Rashid and Malan both played just the one game for Punjab last year.

Rashid bowled three overs, which went for 35 runs, and ended wicketless.

Malan scored a run-a-ball 26 in his only outing.

Both will have been frustrated at the lack of chances, especially given that the Kings had a season to forget.

As for England skipper Eoin Morgan, he had a poor season at KKR with the bat, not getting to 50 in 17 matches and having a strike rate under 100.

But KKR had a strong season in 2021 under Morgan’s captaincy, making the final against all odds, before losing it to Chennai.

With none of them finding any suitors and all of them very much on the wrong side of 30, it may well be the last we see of all three of them in the IPL.

The post IPL News: Hales the Latest Withdrawal as English Players Drop like Flies  appeared first on Bet India.