THE EDGE: Our cricket tipster The Edge previews Friday’s IPL clash between Gujarat Titans v Mumbai Indians with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
Gujarat Titans v Mumbai Indians
MATCH OVERVIEW:
The pressure is on again at the IPL on Friday as Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians clash on BETDAQ Betting Exchange! This fixture is called Qualifier Two, but it’s a de-facto Semi-Final with CSK awaiting the winners on Sunday. It would be rather fitting if we had a CSK v Mumbai Indians Final after the two sides took up the bottom two spots in the table last season. They are the most successful sides in IPL history after all, and they were never going to be away from glory for long. What stands in the way of that Final however is an excellent Gujarat Titans side.
CSK were pretty much faultless when beating Gujarat Titans in Qualifier One in Chennai, but Gujarat have been the most balanced side of the tournament this year. They topped the table in style, and they have played very good cricket right tournament the tournament. Their middle order couldn’t cope with chasing the 172/7 from CSK in Chennai, but you have to feel their side will be more suited to conditions at Ahmedabad. Mumbai Indians have all the momentum though coming into this game.
You have to admire the way they bounced back from losing their opening two games this season and having everyone questioning if they were going to finish bottom of the table again. They batted superbly well on Wednesday in a do-or-die game against Lucknow Super Giants and Rohit Sharma only scored 11 runs too. The middle order looks confident and they will need to be against this Gujarat bowling. What a game we have in store.
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
Ahmedabad is a fitting venue for the final two IPL games. It’s been an incredible season, and what better place to end it than the world’s largest cricket stadium. The IPL fandom shows no signs of slowing down! Remember when India played England in Test cricket here when it first opened after the upgrades; we had rank turners! In limited overs cricket however the wicket has been quite good for batting. The first inning scores this season have been; 178/7 (chased), 204/4 (chased), 177/7 (chased), 207/6 (won), 130/8 (won), 227/2 (won) and 188/9 (won). It does seem a tricky decision what to do at the toss. The sides batting first have won both playoffs so far, and I’d probably lean towards batting first.
RECOMMENDED BET:
It’s not a surprise to see a pretty even market here. This should be a very close game. You’d have to say that Gujarat Titans have been the better side this season, but as I said above Mumbai Indians have all the momentum and they are batting with confidence too. They couldn’t have played better on Wednesday, and that puts them in a perfect spot coming into this game. The sides met twice in the group section, with one win apiece. Mumbai actually posted 218/5 the last time the sides met and defended it. I really feel this is a 50/50 game, and the 2.04 on Mumbai is worth taking from a value point of view.
The Edge Says:
One point win Mumbai Indians to beat Gujarat Titans at 2.04 with Betdaq Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/GujMum
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
Looking at the previous scores here, you really want to be looking for trades on either batting side. We only had one low scoring game, and I would spend the opening overs just checking we don’t have a very low scoring wicket. Once you have assessed that, I feel the best in-running option is backing the side batting first as a good score is expected. Then after that, it’s a decision whether to trade out at the innings break or let the trade run longer given there has been a lot of defended scores here. Both sides have very strong batting line-ups and while I’d have more confidence in Gujarat on paper, the Mumbai batting has been in excellent form lately. I feel the bat will dominate the ball here, and I’d angle your trades towards that.
