IPL: Our cricket tipster The Edge previews the start of the Indian Premier League on Saturday and the match between Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders including a recommended BETDAQ bet.

MATCH OVERVIEW:

The Indian Premier League is back, and IPL 2022 kicks off on Saturday and we’re set to have a brilliant two months of cricket trading on Saturday’s 50% OFF COMMISSION BETDAQ Betting Exchange! We start the tournament with Chennai Super Kings taking on the Kolkata Knight Riders, but unfortunately this season we will lose the home and away element of the tournament again due to Covid19. We will have a largely Mumbai base for the tournament but 15 games will also be hosted in Pune. As you may know, the IPL will change a lot this season with the addition of two new teams.

The ten teams will play a total of 14 matches each in the Group stage – technically home and away games. It gets a little confusing with the Group element to be honest, because the sides have been broken up into two Groups, but then two matches will come against the team from the corresponding row in the other Group which is based on the seedings. I don’t know why they had to do that to be honest as it does make it a little confusing – but from a betting point of view we’ll just be trying to find the winner of each game.

Unfortunately we will also only have 25% capacity which has been approved by the government, but things change and that might be different as the tournament goes on. Fingers crossed we actually complete the tournament as last season had to be postponed mid-way through after an outbreak of Covid19. We also have a new rule too – we’ll have a new man on strike even if the batters cross when a wicket is taken (catch) and the number of unsuccessful reviews has also been changed from two to one. There’s no doubt we’ll have plenty of drama ahead of the next two months, and hopefully it’s a fantastic tournament for trading.

WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:

We kick the tournament off at the Wankhede in Mumbai. This is the home of Mumbai Indians, so we have plenty of data on this ground throughout the years. Before the IPL was postponed last year we had half the tournament in India and the average score batting first here was 177 from ten games. CSK v KKR was actually one of the highest scoring games with CSK posting 220/3 in the first innings. KKR could only manage 202 in return, and I would expect good batting conditions here to start the tournament. I think the average score of 177 is a good total to aim for, and that won’t be far off par.

RECOMMENDED BET:

It’s no surprise that we have a very even market here, and it’s hard to see anything bar a very close game. With such a long tournament ahead, you wouldn’t be surprised to see some slow starts from certain teams. You have more and more players who have retired from International cricket and they will be starting the IPL after a long break. MS Dhoni is a classic example of this from CSK. KKR have lost Eoin Morgan for this season, but he wasn’t in-form batting for them last season but Pat Cummins is a big loss as he is on International duty. This is definitely a game for low stakes as we start the tournament, and I feel the best option is CSK as they look to have the strong squad for the start of the tournament.

The Edge Says:
One point win Chennai Super Kings to beat Kolkata Knight Riders at 1.91 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.

View the market here -> https://bit.ly/BDQCheKlk

IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:

With this being the first game of the tournament, I would go into this game with a very cagey trading mindset. There are some little rule changes to remember, and that might give you a slight edge in-running but I feel most punters will know the new batter on strike rule. I would want to wait and see what conditions are like, but I would expect a pretty good batting wicket and I’d look for trades on the batting side in both innings. Wait until conditions are confirmed for that though. Apart from the batters being on top for most of the game, I would also be very keen to take MS Dhoni when he bats for CSK – he must be out of form without playing much high standard cricket coming into this tournament. It’s going to get harder and harder for him to adjust as he gets older.