IPL Mumbai Indians v Royal Challengers Bangalore: Our cricket tipster The Edge previews Friday’s opening game in the IPL with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
MATCH OVERVIEW:
Bollywood meets cricket yet again on Friday as the 2021 Indian Premier League kicks off in Chennai! It doesn’t feel like that long ago since Mumbai Indians lifted yet another IPL title in Dubai, but we now move back to India. The tournament organisers have had plenty of challenges to get this tournament on, but under some drama with positive Covid19 tests in camps, including Mumbai, we kick the tournament off in Chennai!
Due to Covid19 restrictions, we will stay at six grounds this season and we see the removal of “home games.” We saw this tactic employed well in the Big Bash in Australia, and although certain teams will benefit from home conditions at some point in the tournament, teams will play so many games at each venue it shouldn’t be that much of a big deal. Of course, we have also had some changes to the teams with the auction taking place and Glenn Maxwell is a huge signing for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
A lot of previews have said that he’s “what they need” in the middle order, and while he is a huge talent, I always thought RCB had an issue with bowling and batting outside of the top stars. They got rid of Aaron Finch and brought in Maxwell, so they are still relying on four big name batters and the bowling is still a little light. Same old RCB then! We know what we will get from Mumbai as they keep the same spine of their XI each year. They were by far the best team in IPL 2020 and the format should suit their side again here. The three grounds in the UAE really suited them, and a similar type format will suit them again. They did lose their first game in IPL 2020 however, so there is some hope for RCB fans.
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
The stadium in Chennai has undergone some renovations to their stands in recent years, so we don’t have a huge sample of data. Obviously we saw no cricket here in 2020, but we had a full season in 2019. That’s all the data we have to go off with the big break here before that. The average score batting first in 2019 was 144, with the lowest score being 70 all-out and the highest being 179/4. Ironically RCB recorded that 70, and they will be aiming for much more today! We can see a lot of spin here and if I won the toss I would bat first. It must be said however that with plenty of games at each venue, groundsmen might have to prepare very good wickets at the start of the tournament so we don’t have nightmare wickets towards the backend of the tournament.
RECOMMENDED BET:
Mumbai might have lost their first IPL game last season, but they were by far the best team in the tournament afterwards. RCB have the batters to win the game on their own – Kohli, de Villiers or Maxwell can easily score a century off 50 balls – but I find it difficult to go against Mumbai here. They have the same amount of talent as RCB and their XI is rock solid. They might struggle if we have a spinning wicket as they do have a lack of spinners, but they haven’t won all those IPL titles by just winning at home in good batting conditions. We had a very profitable IPL 2020, and we also started slowly and got to see conditions. I think we should have the same tactics here, and a small bet on Mumbai is recommended to start the tournament.
The Edge Says:
One point win Mumbai Indians to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore at 1.72 on BETDAQ Betting Exchange
View the market here -> http://bit.ly/BDQMmbRcb
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
The IPL is a fantastic tournament for in-play betting on BETDAQ Betting Exchange, and this year should be no different. I do feel however that we should have a slow start here. As I said above, there are some questions that we don’t know the answer to heading into this fixture, while we will have a clear picture as the tournament goes on. For example, with so many games at each ground to start with – will we see a spinning wicket here? I think batting conditions will be better than usual with the volume of cricket to come, but let’s see. I wouldn’t totally write off the chasing team if the team batting first scored 170+ or more like you usually would on this track.
Mumbai are rock solid, and I would definitely look for more trading opportunities on them rather than RCB. It will be very interesting to see what RCB do with their batting line-up now they have Maxwell – will de Villiers move in the order? I’d be keen to be against their opener with Kohli, and perhaps we could see another quick wicket if de Villiers doesn’t come in. Dan Christian was in superb form in the Big Bash, and I’m interested to see how he goes here too.
Did you know that as well as checking the realtime prices on BETDAQ below – you can also log into your account and place your bets directly into BETDAQ from BETDAQ TIPS.
