THE EDGE: Our cricket tipster The Edge previews Sunday’s IPL final between Chennai Super Kings v Gujarat Titans with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
Final; Chennai Super Kings v Gujarat Titans
MATCH OVERVIEW:
It’s déjà vu at the IPL on Sunday as its Final time on BETDAQ Betting Exchange! Chennai Super Kings meet Gujarat Titans again after the sides played each other in the first Qualifier at the start of the week. It’s quite fitting we are back to this fixture – both sides finished in the top two spots in the table after all and they have played the best cricket. CSK had home advantage in the first meeting between the sides on Tuesday, but now that switches to Gujarat Titans as we are the world’s biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad.
You’d have to say these two have been the most settled sides, and that’s probably why they finished top of the table. Everyone knows their role well within each side, and Gujarat bounced back from defeat to CSK on Tuesday by posting a massive 233/3 here against Mumbai Indians on Friday. Shubman Gill lead the way with a wonderful 129 runs off just 60 balls, and it will be interesting to see can the CSK batting fire in different conditions now. Josh Little has returned from Ireland duty for the Bangladesh series, so Gujarat have a full strength bowling line-up again; he didn’t play on Tuesday but got subbed in on Friday to take a wicket and bowl at an economy of 8.66 which was good given conditions.
We should have another very close game here between two top class sides. This IPL has been brilliant – he has been a high scoring tournament with the batters bringing the game forward. No fear cricket is here to stay, especially in limited overs. Hopefully we get the Final the tournament deserves. One wonders will MS Dhoni retire if CSK win – what a fitting way to go out if that happens. Can Gujarat claim back-to-back titles with only two years in IPL cricket too? So many story lines; this could be one of the IPL games for the ages,
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
As I mentioned above, scoring has been high at Ahmedabad. In general the whole tournament has been high scoring with only a few grounds being tricky to bat at. These two sides actually started the tournament at this ground back in March, and here we are in the final again! Gujarat Titans won that game by the way! The first inning scores here have been 178/7 (chased), 204/4 (chased), 177/7 (chased), 207/6 (won), 130/8 (won), 227/2 (won), 188/9 (won) and 233/3 (won). Only one low scoring game which is very much an outlier – I would go into this game expecting runs, and I think you have to bat first in these conditions. Chasing 200 in a high pressure Final is so difficult, it’s a slight edge posting a big target.
RECOMMENDED BET:
It’s been very interesting to see the odds move around between the two sides here. CSK were favourites on Tuesday, and now Gujarat Titans are the slight favourites here. They were very impressive against Mumbai Indians, but a century like that doesn’t happen often. They have to repeat the performance, and they face much tougher bowlers here. There really isn’t much between the sides in my opinion, and I’m going to take the value on CSK at 2.04. I feel both sides have the same quality batting, and while their bowling attacks are impressive I give a slight edge to CSK in that department. In excellent batting conditions, that can be the difference.
The Edge Says:
One point win Chennai Super Kings to beat Gujarat Titans at 2.04 with Betdaq Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/IPLFin
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
Bar one game this venue has been very high scoring, so you mainly want to focus on trades towards either batting side. Batting first has been profitable here in the last five games, and with 233 runs scored in the first innings here Friday I feel you have to bat first. I would be happy to support either side batting first to be honest – both have quality batting and conditions will be in their favour. I wouldn’t quite fancy backing the chasing side in a high run chase in a big IPL Final, so I feel the best in-running edge will be supporting the side who bats first.
