THE EDGE: The Edge previews Sunday’s IPL clash between Gujarat Titans v Mumbai Indians with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
Gujarat Titans v Mumbai Indians
MATCH OVERVIEW:
The Indian Premier League continues on Sunday with Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians getting their 2024 campaign going on Betdaq Betting Exchange. It’s hard to believe that this is just the third season for Gujarat Titans; they have had one of the best starts to any franchise in any sport around the world to be honest. They have topped the group stage twice, made the final twice and won the title once. Usually it takes years to build a side, Gujarat just walked in and became a massive side. They are going to face their biggest challenge yet this season though having lost Hardik Pandya to their opposition here, and then Mohammad Shami is injured.
Remember that final that took three days last season too? In another situation Gujarat could be two from two! Shami out is a huge blow though; he was leading wicket taker last season. I’m not sure I would have made Shubman Gill the captain either, he was leading run scorer last season and you never know how form can take a dip when you give players extra pressure and responsibilities. Mumbai Indians had a complete blow-out season when finishing rock bottom in 2022 but usually they usually close to the title. It’s been three seasons without a title and you’d have to fancy them to go close this season. Their squad is exceptional on paper.
Hardik Pandya is a huge signing. Then you have the likes of Rohit Sharma at the top of the order and Jasprit Bumrah leading the bowling. You could say that they could improve their overseas stars, but they are strong in every area. The one thing I would say however is they have to avoid injuries; Sharma or Bumrah out would be huge blows (obviously) but it’s easy to see why they are tournament favourites.
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
This is the first fixture of the season at Ahmedabad, the world’s largest cricket stadium. It wasn’t so long ago we had the final of the ODI World Cup here! At the moment we only have half of the fixture list for this season because of Elections but we have three fixtures pencilled in here. It was a very high scoring venue last season; the first inning scores were 178/7 (chased), 204/4 (chased), 177/7 (chased), 207/6 (won), 130/8 (won), 227/2 (won), 188/9 (won), 233/3 (won) and 214/4 (chased on DL). Apart from that crazy 130/8 game, it was a venue for the batters! I would expect good batting conditions again – actually tricky to know what to do with the toss because chasing was an edge early on in the tournament last season before it was better to bat first as the tournament went on.
RECOMMENDED BET:
This should be a fascinating game. I’m keen to see how Mumbai perform outside of their major stars, and then we also have Gujarat missing some key players from last season. Surely their performance level has to drop, especially with losing Shami. A lot of pressure will be on Josh Little from Ireland, but he’s been playing very well recently. As I have been saying over the opening weekend, I’m still keen to keep stakes small until we see everyone play. It will be interesting to see does Kane Williamson start for Gujarat – this is a high scoring venue and he doesn’t bat quick enough in T20. I can see why Mumbai are the favourites because they have the better bowling attack, and that could win the day in a high scoring game.
The Edge Says:
One point win Mumbai Indians to beat Gujarat Titans at 1.79 with Betdaq Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/GjaMum
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
Obviously with this being the first game of the season here, I would just have a look at conditions in the opening three overs. If it’s confirmed that we have good batting conditions then I would expect very similar scores to last season. It looked like 180ish wasn’t enough here apart from one game. I would be keen to take on Kane Williamson as he’s unlikely to bat at the correct pace in a high scoring T20. Other than that, it usually pays to look for trades on the batting side here rather than the bowling side!
