0:10 Welcome to the Cricket Betting Podcast. This is the ultimate betting guide to the Indian Premier League Part 2. I'm Ed Hawkins. We are brought to you by BetRight. And thanks to our partnership with BetRight, you get a free £10 ACCA when you sign up with the code ACCA10. Thanks to this pod, bet 10 quid, get a £10 ACCA. New customers only, enter the code ACCA10.com. Minimum five-fold ACCA with total odds of evens or greater. If you do sign up to BetRight, you support the Cricket Betting podcast. And why would you do that? Because our three best bets are returning massive profits already in 2026, almost 63 points up.
0:57 And also because of our partnership, with BetRight, we have requested an IPL team to be boosted for this episode of the Cricket Betting Podcast. This is the episode where we tell you who wins the IPL and we tell you who they beat in the final. So, part one is already available to listen to. We did the bottom five teams in the betting. In this episode, we look at the top five teams. Paul Krishnamurti, are you ready to roll? Have you got the winner? Hopefully, more to the point, hopefully lots of winning strategies. Richard Mann, have you got the winner? I've got the winner and I've got a strong feeling and we've not discussed this before but I think we're going to have
1:43 some consensus as well. I've just got a feeling. Okay. Well, I think I've got a good idea who I fancy. So we'll see if it is... The same one in part one. I thought we were going to have massive consensus on a team and that fell pretty early on. We've got some updates on those teams actually who we previewed in part one. We'll get to that. But for the top five in the betting, we've got possible 11s, impact subs, strategies for each team and the player win rates on the top markets, plus Paul's coveted ground guide for each of these. teams. Who are these teams? Well, they're Mumbai, they're Royal Challengers, Bangalore, they are Gujarat Titans, Punjab Kings,
2:33 and Delhi Capitals. Those are your five teams left to do in part two. We're going to start with an outright, no surprise, Mumbai Indians, 9-2 favourites with Bet Victor. RCB, the holders, 6-1 with Bet right to go back to bat. Chenna and Mumbai are the only two teams to have done that feat so far. CSK have been boosted to 9-1 by Betray to win it, just a point on that. But Gujarat are 8s. Punjab also 9s. Sunrise is 9-1 bet victor. Delhi have actually taken a drift since we did record part 1, so they would have been in part 1 if they'd have been as big as 10-1, and
3:19 that's the price with Betway. KKR, 10s Betray priced up Bresbeth, Betway. Look now, Super Giants are 12-1 generally, and then the Royals at 14s with 3-6-5, Betfred, 10 bets. Now, Paul, talking outright and odds, the team we've just mentioned in part one, we were pretty keen on registered arm rolls, but a massive blow to our fancy just in the last few hours. It is a blow. I mean... It's not that Sam Curran is necessarily the most pivotal player in the tournament, but that is their weakness. That was the glaring, glaring weakness in this side all-rounders. So, they had a bit of balance and getting injured, Adrian Sam Curran, was a big, big positive for me, for them. Will
4:06 they get someone a decent replacement? We had a brief chat about this earlier. We had Mulder, maybe. He would be a good player to have. Matthew Ford, maybe. Either way, it's not going to be easy. I still think, though, nevertheless, Rajasthan are better than being ranked outsiders. Indeed. These outright prices are all about wrong prices, really. It doesn't take much. Only a couple of points one way or the other. In the example of KKR, for example, are they really the same price as Delhi? We'll talk about Delhi in a minute, but I don't think I'm giving much away to think. at the moment that deli might find things a bit of a struggle uh unless i've just kiposhed richard's earlier view uh that
4:54 we're going to have consensus rich outright news yeah well uh kkr obviously if you haven't listened to part one definitely listen to part one of the ipl previous show we were pretty keen on kkr i still like them at double figures um i definitely think they're too big um we're obviously going to analyze the I fancy teams in more depth now, but Punjab last year, runners-up, and that was a real breakthrough season for them, and I expect them to get stronger as they go on. So they certainly catch the eye at almost double figures. I do think Mumbai Indians are probably the correct favourites, and I probably shouldn't be saying that, and Paul will be shaking his head at me, but they do look very strong. Paul, is
5:40 Paul shaking his head? No, I'm not. I'm not. Okay. I'm not, I'm not, so I'm going to shake my head either. Nine to stand out with Victor. We get to Mumbai. Plenty of teams to get through. If you want to make money on the IPL, you want to sub up to that VIP channel of the Cricket Betting Podcast in the comments section below. We're expecting a very big tournament. We'd be very, very disappointed if we aren't turning over some very sizable profits by the end of it we've got games coming thick and fast going to be games every day so to get your top rated bets for those games straight to your device sign up to our telegram channel we're seven percent rli up so we do know what we're doing putting lots of work in the live games pretos in play also your
6:30 tournament specials outright bets are going to be going up on the vip once this podcast comes out. So you need to get signed up now. You'll also get access to the VIP chat room. As I said, Paul and Richard will name their winner of the IPL in this episode. They name who they beat in the final. Also stay tuned for that boosted team by BetRite that we have asked for for you, dear listeners. Now, we've got a few more BetRite boosts as we go through some of these teams as well. Richard and Paul... As I said, we'll name the teams who are going to contest that final. Just a quick word on KKR, who we talked up in part one, available 13
7:18 to 8, Rich, to make the top four. And we've talked about KKR, but that looks like a prize just to kick things off. Yeah, it does. As I said, I've... I look back at part one, we're going to KK in more detail, but Finn Allen, Tim See for opening the batting, perfect for Eden Gardens. That looks really, really shrewd work at the auction. The bowling course that stayed the same, Varenka Kravarti, someone riding two of the best spinners in the competition. Powerhouse middle order, Rinku Singh, the finisher, they look particularly strong. I'd be very, very disappointed if they didn't have a good season for... And top four certainly looks there for the taking for them. Right, let's go. The five-team preview starts
8:05 now. We start with Delhi Capitals, 10-1 with Betway. They've been on the drift. We'll go straight to Paul Krishnamurti for the ground guide. What have you got, Paul? Well, this is a very small ground, Delhi. Based on the last couple of years, I think this has to be ranked number one. I think this is where you have to set par the highest. 204.5 would be the under-overline. 11 out of the 12 games last two years were 180 plus. And there's an interesting differential between the two years, actually. So in 2024, four out of the five games of first things was 220 or more. So that was probably 220 or 1.25 shots. Last year, over the two years, it's five out of 12 games has happened. So it would be a 2.4 chance. So again, that higher than any other ground. What I
8:55 would say is last year, The pitches were a bit cracked and they were taking spin. They worked a little bit harder to bat, even though it's still a very high-scoring ground. And I wonder whether, because we've had a lot of cricket there as well in the World Cup already, whether that is the case again. And as the season gets on, this becomes a bit more of an unders ground, albeit from a higher starting point. All righty, let's give you some numbers on Gally. That's 13-8 with 3-6-5 to make the top four. Last season they finished. And we'll give you our ranking system now, breaking this down in terms of batting power and bowling strength. Now, the idea behind that is to work out where the weaknesses were last season and answer the question whether they've done
9:43 something about those weaknesses or those strengths, respectively, in their recruitments. So, Dele's numbers are dreadful. Batting strike rate, they're 8th out of 10. Sixth hitting rank, they're 8th out of 10. Power play average score with the bat. They're eighth out of 10. Against with the ball in the power play, they are eighth out of 10. They're number five on bowling economy overall, so very much mid-ranking. Your top batsman to follow is Rahul, winning at 38.4% over the last two years. So nice, big, heavy study samples with these player win rates. Top bowler is Kaldip, 28% win rate, and your
10:29 possible 11. Rahul Nisanka, I think, just gets ahead of Duckett for Delhi. Karaner Aksar Perel Stubbs Ashutosh Bipraj Kaldip Stark Natarajan. Possibly, this could be a franchise who are subbing in and out, an overseas player. So, Nagidi, if they're bowling first, and then coming out for Miller. And by some... Very disappointing underlying numbers. They're not really excelling at anything, Richard Mann. I'm desperately hoping this is not the team you think we've got consensus on in terms of who's going to win it. Well, no, I think we've got consensus. They won't win it. Middle of the road, probably lower middle table finish. Yeah, just got some holes,
11:16 haven't they, everywhere. You look a couple of stars in there, but there's lots of holes. I mean... We were analysing last week the team's lower end of the outright market, but, you know, this little bang average, really. I can't see them contending at all. Well, Krishnamurti, what are your views on Dele? Well, I've also got the mid-division. I'm not quite as down on them as you guys. I think they've made some decent swaps. You know, lost Faf, lost Jake Fraser-McGirt, Nisanka's a good signing. Kyle Jameson's a good signing. Miller, decent signing. But it's really interesting noticing your numbers there as well, that if they're ranked eighth for sixes and their home ground is
12:03 Delhi, where 20.5 average sixes, that speaks volumes, doesn't it? But they're weak. One thing I would say for them is if it does turn, I would like the Kuldeep, Axar, Vipravnigam, Triadam. Yeah. De Sanko almost certainly upgraded on Fraser McGurk, who was, you know, a bolter, really. He was elevated beyond his, perhaps his temperament, no doubt, his ability to hit the ball or die for the ball, but just got a bit too big too quickly for Fraser McGurk, didn't he? I mean, I do like, we'll talk strategies for this team. I do like Ngedi in terms of wickets, but worried about start taking ones off him. I think Ngedi's been underrated in T24. and has
12:52 never really been given an IPL run in a team. It doesn't look like he might get one here either. Any strategy for Dele, Richard? Yeah, well, Ngeidi, who was outstanding at the T20 World Cup, he should start, but like you say, I think they'll probably go with Stark. I think that does mark it for Bet365 and Betway that we identified a little bit for the VIP, the the over 1.5 or two wickets in the match and Gideon looks made for those markets and you're obviously just taking out the opposition and it's strong opposition with Kuldeep as well and Gideon I think he'll be a good bet in that market more often than not Cool ways to play Yeah again it's in your numbers so
13:37 Carol Rahul 35% top bat you know he's absolutely guaranteed to be the anchor man isn't he in this team So I think he'll deliver more often than not. And he might be a bet for top tournament back, given as well that their home ground is a high-scoring ground. Yeah, I would definitely... I mean, we're still waiting on enough sides to go up, but I'd be really interested to see what price Kaol is for top Delhi tournament batsmen. I know you're looking at it and you automatically think, well, it'll be a 6-4 chance, but you never know. You never know. And personally, anything north of 9-4, I'll be getting involved if... Yeah, we have absolutely no qualms about betting those type of players in that sort of top three who, I don't drop anchor, but they're not going to be striking.
14:25 He's not going to be striking at 160, Rahul, and there's nothing wrong with that at all. If he goes on late 120s, mid 130s, and he's consistently hitting 40 every innings, and he's certainly in the mix of top tournament bat. Right, we're going to move on to Gujarat. Titans next. They are 8-1 with Betright. Let's go to Paul for a ground guide. Well, yeah, so another run fest. Arguably number one. I've got it as number two. But arguably, due to the consistency of Ahmedabad, it could be number one. Nine out of nine first innings, 109 or more last year. Seven out of nine, 200 plus. In fact, the par line last year was between 217 and 224, which is higher
15:14 than anywhere. Over the last two years, it's 202. It's had a lot of cricket, Ahmedabad, but there are a lot of strips. I believe there are nine strips there. At least one of them is black soil, and that, does generally come in lower. But as those numbers suggest, it's not that low. And Richard, what else you got? I've been stats. Sorry, Richard, I'll go do my stats. I'm coming to you a bit early. Heave me up. Yeah, I'll put you under the microscope a bit early there. So 11-8, 3-6-5, better way back to top four for Gujarat, a 4-1 generally to reach the final. What did they do last season? They finished third. The banning strike
16:03 rate rank is number one, which says something about the Amadeved pitch. Six hit rank number six. Power play, four with the bat. They are seventh, and they're seventh in the power play with the ball as well in terms of keeping things tight. And bowling economy mid-ranking, I'm out of that six. Top bat, Cy Sudderson is 37%. Win rate over the last two years, very big study sample. And your top bowler is psych assured that he's been bowling 30% of the time. I do think that's going to be an angle moving forward because you're going to get tremendous odds on him. The GT possible 11, we'll talk about this, whether they make use of their resources could be
16:53 where they make a title challenge or not. So, Cy Gill Butler, then Banton of Phillips, Sundar, Tawatiya, Sharup, Rashid, Rabada, Suraj and Kishore, Prasid subbing in and out with Cy Suderson, the opening bat. But is there a world where both Banton and Glenn Phillips play and Rabada comes out with Prasid Krishna starting, maybe. Paul, do Gujarat have the fizz for you? Well, this is the definition of a pedigree franchise. In their four years in this, they've
17:41 won 63% of all group matches, so they should go off at 1.58, which they almost never will. So in theory, they're always valued. I think they're strong again. There's only minor changes. Phillips barely played at all last season, so that's effectively a new signing. They've lost Chafane Rutherford, which is a loss, I guess. The one thing that's worrying me, which we talked about during the World Cup, is Joss Butler. Is Joss Butler going to come back to the form? Because he was pivotal last season. At the moment, until I see Firth Revitens, he's very, very hard to back him. Yep. Well, we did think he'd look shot in the World Cup. When he goes through that sort of run, he tends to need a good
18:29 old break, a lot of time off. But we've been speaking about Butler for a long time in terms of player performance. His value or the consideration for going overs is just no longer there. Richard, I like GT. Do you like them? I like them. The Butler conundrum... could make or break their season though, because if he continues to struggle, you would think given his experience and everything else and all the commercial pressures as well, he's going to get a good run, isn't he? He's going to play the first five or six, even if he struggles, and that could cost them. Obviously, if he comes back to form, absolutely fine, and they look a super strong side again, tick so many
19:18 boxes. The big thing I really like... I mean, Pradeesh and Kishore last year were brilliant, homegrown Indian bowlers, not taking up any overseas slots and I think they took 20 odd wickets each last season. You've got Suraj in there as well. You've got an Indian finisher in Tawati. So a real strong Indian call, which is vital. Asai as well. But I think Paul's right, Rutherford's a loss. But the bigger concern is what bottle are we going to see? Yeah. We'll talk strategies for Gujarat Titans. Here's one from me. Sy Sudesan, just so consistent, reliable with the bat. Bonkers stat alert. Just goes out and beats the run line every time. Well, not quite, but he's played 40 IPL
20:06 innings. He's beaten his runs line in 29 of them. Paul, can you beat that strat? No, I mean, I would say that. I mean, Shudman Gill isn't bad either. Shudman Gill also has a great record of beating the run line in this. The pair of them have been so outstanding at the top there. And Ahmed Abad has always been a good grounds back openers on. So both of those are generally valued. As I was saying with a ground guide, I'm probably happier to go overs on runs here than any other ground. It's so reliable, Ahmed Abad. It just seems to be getting better and better every season. But that said... being a bit contrarian for a second, one angle with Gujarat, their one weakness was the lack of a middle order. And unfortunately, Fane Rutherford was critical to that. So you might well
20:54 see situations here where Sy and Shudman Gill get off to a rapid start, put 50-60 on for the first wicket. That might be the time to go unders at a very high mark. Yes. I mean, if there's... Weaknesses with every team, but I think Shahrood Khan, you see him in a line-up and he's just a player which makes you keep your wallet in your pocket, I think. Rich, anything for you for Gujarat in terms of strategy? Well, I'm sort of jumping on the bandwagon again, but I had Sadi Sudars in the last 10 innings. He scores with an hour, what a I'll bore you with that now because you've
21:40 said how many times he's beat it. But even just in his last 10 games, four of them are half centuries. One of them was a century. So even if you just wanted to bet him in the milestones at 50s, I reckon 50, he'll probably be an 11-4 shot, will he? And he's winning four out of 10. So he's just a machine. The other one is Kishore and Pradeep, a value in the top baller market. You know, you've obviously identified Kishore there, but Pradeesh as well and Rashid Khan and Rabada, who I had high hopes for the T20 World Cup. They're going to take a big chunk of the book, but actually it's those homegrown Indian players who've done really well in this market. Yeah, Ahmedabad in terms of GT batters, great point from which backing them for 50s take others, or
22:29 milestones take others out of the equation in terms of top bat. Maybe use that size citizen. win rate for your 50s instead. There's nothing worse than getting your guy getting 60-odd and he's getting pipped by a late blast. We're going to do Punjab Kings next, but just a reminder, please, to sign up to our partners, BetRite, the BetRite Boost and the BetRite Boosted team still to come. Who might it be? If you do support BetRight, you do support the Cricket Betting Podcast to come back every week and give those free best bets and episodes like this where I think we do a pretty good job in terms of giving a service as to what is going to happen in the IPL. So if you
23:17 support them, you support us. Punjab Kings are next. They're 9-1 to win it. 9-2 to make the final. and they are 13 to 8 for the top four. Now, if those prices look big to you or perhaps unheard of, or you think I've made a mistake, those are the bet-right boosts requested by us for Punjab Kings to go well in this IPL. We'll talk about their makeup and strengths and weaknesses, but Paul, just talk to us about new Tandagar, please. Well, we've only got a relatively small sample here because it's only been around two years. 11 games. And if you looked at the playoffs, you would be completely confused because we saw 101 and then 228. But
24:08 overall, it is low scoring. It actually comes in bottom of the stats if we discount Chennai, which we're starting afresh with. Seven out of 11 matches here have produced fewer than 15.60s. Five of the 11 firstings were sub-160, which is very... very, very low in the modern IPL with the batting sub. Piles around 175 to 186 is lying about 13.5 and that on average amounts to being bottom of the list. Right, staff, thank you very much, Paul. Last season, they were runners-up. Their batting strike rate rank was number two. Their six-hit goal
24:55 rank was number one their power play with the bat was equal first their power play with the ball was second but they were down on bowling economy at number seven so lost their way a little bit perhaps at middle overs death way um i'll come back to you for your top bat and top bowler because i've erroneously not put those in the strips, so while Paul and Rich will be talking, I'll be finding those for you. Your possible 11 is Brab Singh. I'm pretty sure it's him who's going to win your top back. Aria Shreyas, Stoinis Morzai, Shashank, Wadhera Jansen, Harpreet, Chahal, Ashdip, Brab Singh subbing in and out for Vyshack. Paul, you really like them. They've not
25:44 really lost any players from Josh, apart from Josh Inglis, Cooper Connolly, then Dwarfsius is in. Most importantly, they retain their key India players and you like them, don't you? I love them. I mean, consider the stats you just read out as well. You know, really established, this is the lowest scoring home ground and yet they're top ranked for runs and sixes. That says a great deal about it, could they all? I thought they were the best team last year. I thought they were unlucky in the group stages not to get top two because they had a couple of abandoned games they were going to win. And then in the final, frankly, they bottled it. You would have, on what you'd think throughout the season, you would have bet them to chase that total down and they just didn't. You know, the team you've just listed, that 11, has eight Indian players in it,
26:32 right, which is tremendous because they've got loads of overseas players. They've got really well... balanced. They can be aggressive from the start and they are, the openers are very aggressive, but they're very deep. You've got a middle all-double with Stoinis, Shashank and Markover Jansen. Even Harpreet at number nine, or Xavier Bartlett, perfectly reasonable all-rounders there. You know, for me, the only downsides they lost, Josh English, he did have a really good season, but that frees up an overseas spot and they've got loads to choose from in that respect. Prab Singh wins 25% on top bat last two years. Arshteepe wins 33% of the time top bowler last two years. Arshteepe, fantastic with new
27:19 and old ball. Rich, Betright boosts 13 to 8 and make the top four. It's looking very, very tempting indeed. Are you on board? Are you as keen as Paul? Maybe not as keen as Paul, but they're very tempting. They look really strong. Big thing for me as well last year, I am a Ricky Ponting believer. It was his first year as head coach last year and he immediately turned them round. I don't know how to say a laughingstock prior to that, but a very nearly team. But they were so strong last year, like Paul says, they were probably the best team for much of the season. I'd hope that they can take another step forward under his coaching this year. And they've got so much going for them. I think in Shreyasaya, for me, he's potentially got the
28:08 best batter in the competition. He's just outstanding last year. The opening pair, absolutely electric. And Stonies people might turn their noses up at him, but he's got a pretty good IPL record. He's in good form as well. He had a brilliant big bash. Thought Australia underused him a bit. Batted far too low down in the T20 World Cup. Did us a couple of favours on the IP. It just looked really strong. Even looking at the squad, Dave, Lockie Ferguson gives him a different option as an overseas bowler. Still bowling really quick, and he's a right armour because he's got the two left armours. Took a lot of boxes again. Very, very strong for me. All right. Ways to play, Paul? Well, given what we've already said about the batting, really big scores away from home.
28:59 That's a really solid bet for me. And equally to chase big totals down. I just think they've got so many runs in them. And obviously, you know, no secret, backing them each way for me, a 9-1. Really, really solid each way bet. Richard, you've got any strats for Punjab? Well, and monster scores was the thing I'd got down. And I think this team's got a monster chasing them as well. I really hope when they go away that they're chasing like a 240, 250 somewhere and you can get a decent prize. I think if anyone can do it, it's this team because of that opening pair. They can just get them to 90 off, say, six in the power play and suddenly you're in a great position. The other one, look out for Wadira, the left-hander when they play two. teams with good strong leg spinners
29:45 really good player of spin he copped I think against RCB last year rain affected Michael went up the order as a left hand do you see because obviously there's quite a few right handers in there so I'll be picking my moments with him but I am a big fan of still surprised Mumbai Indians let him go a couple of years ago Alright we are three teams down we've got two to go the winner of the IPL and the runner up is named at the end of the show well Paul and Richard's winner and runner-up, they may well have consensus. We shall see. Subscription to our VIP Telegram service gets you access to our VIP chat room where loads of bets and angles are discussed. It's a really thriving community, so it's a good one to check out. You can sign up in the
30:32 comments section below. We're doing very nicely on our VIP. Thank you very much. 10% ROI alone on pre-toss bets. So we're very happy with that. Don't forget to check out crickstats.ai, our partner as well, to get all your betting data across all the markets. You can pretty much get any data you wish for any market going on crickstats.ai. That's the point of the site. We all use it for our bets. So go and check that out and you'll be able to find value wages that way as well. So next is top two in the betting. It's RCB who are next. The holders. Paul, tell us about the Chinaswami before I give you some prices. Play another small high scoring ground.
31:23 Once upon a time, it was the undisputed top scoring ground in IPL. But it may surprise you. I've actually got it down number six now. because their scores have gone up everywhere else. They've gone slightly down here. Weberton's actually a really huge one. The pile's only been 183 to 186 the last two years. Although I would say, I mean, if you're looking at this as places where there are never low scores, there's only one out of 18 matches in five years, four innings under 160. And equally, whilst the run lines have gone down a little bit, the sixes have maintained very high. 20.5 to 21.5 is the line here. Okay. Betrite boosts on your holders, RCB, to 6-1 to win it.
32:12 They've boosted them to even money to make the top four. They have been boosted to 12-5 to make the final. So... Some boosts there with BetRight that you can take advantage on thanks to the Cricket Betting Podcast. Last season, they, of course, won the whole thing, which rather spoilt Bangalore as a reputation as the team everybody loves to hate. Well, punters certainly love to lay Bangalore. Reliably awful up until that point. But they have got a trophy in their cabinet now. Batting strike rate rank is number
32:59 seven. They were fifth. The Sixers hit power play. With the bat, they were number two. With the ball in the power play, they were number one. And with bowling economy, they were number two. So there's absolutely no secret as to how they managed to win that title. It was bowling power that got them over the line. Top bat. No surprise, Mr. Coley wins 40% of the time in your last two years. Extremely consistent. You're going to have one bet. You have one bet only. If you bet Coley throughout the tournament, you'll be fine. Top bowler, Hazelwood, 33% win rate last two years. Possible 11. Coley, solid. I think
33:45 Bethel comes in to bat at three. Very difficult to keep him out of the team considering what he did to India in that World Cup semi-final. Patida, Jitesh, David Venkatesh-Aya. Very solid lower order. Kronal Pandrick, Bhuv Kumar, Josh Haderwood and Yash Dayal. Padikal, the backer, could be coming in and out as he impacts up with Yash. Cool. What do you think of RCB? Have they improved? Have they stood still? Should they have looked to do a little bit more with the bat, with those batting stats? Well, there is one slight bit of improvement there. I mean, I'm very happy. I'd be very happy to lose Liam Livingston and gain Venkatesh Iyer. That's a good swap
34:34 for me. I mean, you mentioned Hazelwood. He really is the key. Keeping him fit, getting through, he really makes a difference between what I think is a pretty ordinary bowling line-up without him, but he's an outstanding player. I've also got a slight worry that Phil Salt won't have a third great season on the spin. I don't want to diss this team. They're a good team. They're contenders. They are worthy champions, but they're not my selection. No, I mean, I think last season we did sort of identify our team to... to look out for, I think. It might be rose-tinted spectacles and all that, but we did caveat it pretty heavily
35:19 and ruled them out because we were just worried about Hazelwood being thick, Richard. Yeah. If he's not, then, you know, they could really struggle, couldn't they? Yeah, I mean, it'd be probably the best... well after Bumble he's probably the best T20 team going he just at the moment reports and I've just had another look now both him and Cummins are not expected to make the start of the tournament they're just going to miss a few I think they're talking like the first couple I mean it probably won't make a difference to the title chances but that is something to bear in mind he's had such a long layoff and with Paul as well I think they're a good side I'm not convinced they're that much better than that but I don't actually think they were the best team in it last year and did manage to win. If Hazelwood doesn't make it, I still think the bowling club,
36:11 he just leaves a massive hole, doesn't he? If he isn't fit. So I just think, I don't think, I think they've stood still. I think they've got some injury concerns around Hazelwood. I think some of the other teams have recruited well and I think they'll overtake them. Alrighty. Just on Hazelwood. when he plays and he gets that 20.5 performance quote. He busted it seven out of 12 last year. Two wickets or more in seven of those 12s. Paul, what have you got for us to be? I think they're very reliable to sixes. Number one, because of the ground, but also they've got some cracking finishers. Tim David, Jitesh Sharma, sometimes Romario Shepard, really reliable in that score. And also, you mentioned Coley being very reliable, absolutely. Also, Rajat
37:02 Patidar, I think, is very reliable at beating his run line. Yeah, a good spot on Shepard. How they get him in this team, though? I mean, Ricky, when you've got a guy like that on the bench, Shepard's always a go-to, by the way, for West Indies' top bowler in T20. The IPL number is not there, by the way. So, we're not suggesting going hard on Shepard when he makes C11 for those people who listen very hard to our podcast. Rich, what have you got for our CB? Yeah, well, just a great spot from you guys there. Particularly, there's all two wickets. I think that's a knocking bear. I don't want to... jump into Paul's shoes here too much but this ground, home games last few years,
37:49 it's been, I think my view is that the par line's come down because it's been tricky early in the season, we've seen a bit of green grass and then the pictures, you might remember me talking about this last year and the pictures have tended to get better later in the season and then we've seen the big ones so my message is if you want to back runs here and I wouldn't do it first few games. I'd wait and then get involved. Because look at this from last season. The last game was rained off, but the one before that, 2-13 played 2-11 versus CSK. And then the one prior to that, 2-0-5 played 1-9-4. That was against the Royals. So my message is wait. And if there's some low scores, don't give up. Ben, then make your move. That's RCB. The holder's done.
38:36 I think we're suggesting that they're not going back to back. That was pretty clear. And then there was one, and it's Mumbai Indians, your perennial IPL favourites to play at the Vankete. Paul, is this your favourite ground? I guess so, just because I know it so well. We've seen so many games here. Important to throw here that although you can get very big scores here, it's not always a run-fest by any stretch of the imagination. The The past two years, it's been 176 to 179. Six is 15.5 to 18.5, despite it being a very small ground. But the core trend is that it's very often difficult to bat early. Very often. Not every game, but
39:23 a lot of time. But you can nearly always rely on a big score in the second half of the innings. And we saw it again in the World Cup. If a team's well set, they'd go off at 10 and over off the first seven, they're probably going to end up past 220, even past 240. But you're going to see a lot of games probably where they're only going at six and over off the first, say, eight, so they're 48. You could still get 170, 180 out of that and get 11, 12 and over off the last 10 overs. And that is a really reliable strategy as long as, you know, whatever the situation is after seven, eight, nine overs, take the extreme overs lines on the buns.
40:08 Righty, Mumbai Indians. There are a couple of firms who are very, very happy to take them on. Bet Victor being one, who are pricing them at 9-2 standout. Star Sports, another going standout 8-11 for the top four. And 7-4, same firm to make the final. Last season, they finished fourth. They were sixth on batting strike. rate. There were four thirding sixes. Power play ranking with the bat equal first. Power play ranking with the ball is third. Bowling economy ranked number one. Some extremely strong numbers. Underline numbers for this Mumbai Indians team. Top bat, Siya Kamiyadav, two-year win
40:54 rate, 29%. Top bowler, two-year win rate, Jasprit Bumrah, 28%. Possible 11th. Rohit Rickleton, Tillak, Sky, Hardick, Jax, Namandeur, Shadul Thakur, Brent Bolt, Bumra, Gazanfar, the spinner. Mokande for Namandeur as a sub, potentially, a baller for a batter. Jasper Bumra's fitness, a bit like Hazel with RCB, absolutely crucial. Missed four games last season. Mumbai had the best net run rate last term. Addy played one of those games. would they have got the one win they needed to make the top two and actually go top of the table? So the
41:39 fourth-place finish doesn't tell the whole story. Richard Mann, can you get them beat? I hope so, but I've got loads of respect for them. I think it's an excellent side. It's interesting looking back last season. It was a poor start, wasn't it? And it was because Bumba missed those early games. If you remember, he'd come back early. off the back of a big stress factor that to Australia. From what we saw in the T20 World Cup, he looks fit and strong and lean and mean, so he'll start warning and they just look really strong. They've got two coming men as well in terms of the overseas players who I think will step up from what they did for this franchise last year. Rickleton surely opens and Will Jacks, who was brilliant at the World Cup for England, they've just looked twice
42:25 the players they were 12 months ago and Mumbai are going to, they're going to be given a massive boost from that. Obviously the strong Indian car, Hardik Sky, Rohit, by the way, looks fit as a flea. I mean, he's lost loads of weight. Um, probably looks in the shape of his life. Um, extremely strong, great home record. They're going to be hard to keep out of the mix. Oh, hard to keep out of the mix. Yeah, very hard to keep out of the mix. Um, You have to respect them on all grounds, completely agree with everything Rich just said. And you can add Corbin Bosch to that as well as another up-and-coming overseas player, really strong. At home, you cannot underestimate how valuable Boomer is because, as I say, back to the second half of the innings, you're going to
43:12 go a 10, 12 and over. And if they've got Boomer bowling three overs and going for seven and eight, that's a match-winning contribution, isn't it? Yeah. They've got some, I think, in addition to all the big players we've seen, there's some interesting domestic players up and coming. Namandia, Ashwani Kumar, being to see how they perform. The only kind of negative I've got is that it's not as if we haven't bigged them up before. All other MI franchises with their stellar squalls, and it just hasn't come good. They just haven't gelled. And, you know, it's all built into the price. We are betting on the price. They're the clear favourites. There's plenty of other good sides in it, so for that
44:01 reason, I'll avoid them. Alrighty, let's talk strategies on Mumbai Indians. We often talk about players you must be betting on. I just do want to point out Trent Folt's win rate as top bowler. He would be go-to person to back for a lot of people, but his record across... 31 IPL games is absolutely appalling on top bowlers. He's got a 9.6% win rate. So that is one to swerve. Richard, any strategies for Mumbai? Well, if you play as I think Rutherford is a lovely fit for this ground when they're playing at home. Middle-out of the Finnish game, made a big score against England on this
44:47 ground in the T20 World Cup. So I'm interested in Hopefully he gets a go at some point. But I will be keen on Will Jack's player performance. I'm just generally going to try and get Jacks onside. If I think as an off-spinner he's coming up against some left-handers and he's going to do a lot of ball in the back of the match. The interesting one about Ball, I agree with you broadly, but we've mentioned this before about his record with that first over and the new Ball. And I'm not sure whether they'll do it this year, but in past IPLs, what Bet365 have done is they've gone wicket in the first over, yes or no. And it's been generally a 6-1 chance. And it's like all these things, it's just the same across the board. And when Bolt gets that new ball in his hand, he generally takes a wicket in that first over. He's terrible at the death.
45:37 I think that's probably that bears out your stats. Yeah. It's a horrendous death baller. But with that new ball, when it swings, it does take early wickets. That's definitely one to watch through the course of the season. Great stuff. That's definitely the best way to play the Bolt first over wicket. We did sort of discuss in the past highest opening partnership. I'd much rather be taking sixes with that Trent Bolt record in the first over. Paul, a strategy for Mumbai? Well, already said the late runs at the Wankite strategy, but connected to that and also backing up what Rich said about backing Will Jack's performance is that you want to be back in the middle order for top bat at that ground. So Hardick, Will Jacks, maybe Namath, Mandir, they're all going to
46:28 be big prices because of the quality of the top holder. One little thing just slightly on that, juggling the overseas players is not that easy for them, is it? I mean, they've got Quinton de Kock in this side. Yeah, I mean, from that point of view, they're not using their resources well because they just don't need Quinton De Kock, do they? It's just a waste of a waste. Yeah. And that is a worry when teams, that is historically a big worry when teams do that. They don't get their recruitment right or they're overloaded in one position. They could have gone for a world-class spinner, couldn't they? Except De Kock. That's probably the one area where you look at them and you think, oh, they've not got
47:15 a Rashid Khan or someone like that. Probably couldn't have afforded him. But that, look, we're picking holes because the 4-1. Yeah, when I saw Dick, he's basically the same player as Rickleton, but probably more on a downward trajectory. So it was an odd one, that one. All righty, that's Mumbai Indians done. That's all five teams done as well. So we have got to the business time, but just before Paul and Richard name their winner and a couple more bet right boosts to tell you about Chennai Super Kings, well fancied by some. You can check out our views on Chennai Super Kings in IPL preview part one.
48:00 BetRide boosts them to nine to one to win it, seven to two for the final and six to five for the top four. Okay. It is business time. It's the winner and runner-up of IPL 2026, named and shamed here. Who wants to go first? Paul? Yeah, I'll go Punjab Kings to beat Kolkata Night Riders. Punjab Kings to beat Kolkata. Paul, Paul, Krishnamurti and Richard Mern, please. Same two, but the other way around. So I'm Kolkata Night Riders to beat Punjab Kings. Okay, well, that's very easy as I scroll through the list to try and find... I think it's 45 to 1 that finalist star spots. Oh, well done.
48:51 Desperately searching 45 to 1. There you go. We do have consensus on a 45 to 1 wager on the cricket betting podcast for the IPL 2026. How about that? Don't forget to listen to IPL Preview Part 1. Get signed up to the VIP Telegram service If you want, bet straight to your device for every single IPL game. There's also the Pakistan Super League starting a couple of days before the IPL. We are back with our ultimate betting guide to the PSL from Tuesday, where we'll be doing exactly the same sort of stuff again with rankings, player win rates, and so forth. We are here throughout IPL and PSL. So...
49:38 We will see you next time on the Cricket Betting Podcast.
