IPL Betting: Chennai Super Kings v Royal Challengers Bangalore

Find Me A 100 Winner / Andrew Hughes / 22 May 2009 / Leave a Comment

Both teams started slowly but have steadily improved as the competition has progressed and have their star batsmen finding some real form. That said, the endless supply of big-hitters for Chennai should give them the edge in this one, says Andrew Hughes.

Team News

Both of these franchises made slow starts to IPL 2009 and one of the reasons was their failure to get the best out of their squads. As the tournament has gone on, they have slowly managed to put the pieces into place and both now have reasonably settled sides. Chennai's biggest selection dilemma has been the second opening batting spot alongside Matthew Hayden.

Having tried out four different players in that role, they seem to have settled once more on Parthiv Patel. Their solid middle order pretty much picks itself and the only other decision to be made ahead of the semi-final is between Manpreet Gony and Sudeep Tyagi for the second seamer's spot.

Bangalore have taken even longer than Chennai to find their best line-up, having employed twenty-three players in their fourteen games, but they too are fairly settled. Manish Pandey was promoted to open on Thursday and smashed an astonishing century, so it seems certain that he will retain his place, possibly as an opener, with the disappointing but apparently undroppable Robin Uthappa moving down the order. Bangalore would have a bigger dilemma if Dale Steyn were to declare himself fit, as it is hard to see which of the four foreign players currently in the side would give way. Having won four in a row, it is unlikely that they will want to change a winning formula.

Conditions

Like most of these rather tired, end of season pitches, the New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg has lacked zip and offered a little help to the spinners. Teams are averaging in the low 140s here and there doesn't seem to be much of a disadvantage to batting second, with four of the six teams to do so here this tournament successfully chasing down their targets. But with the ball not really coming onto the bat, batsmen have to work hard for their runs. In six games here, only two players have passed sixty and the average highest score is 54, so you should probably be looking to back 'Under 68.5' in the highest individual score market.

Match Odds

These teams are evenly-matched in the bowling department. Both were initially over-reliant on the quicker bowers, but have adapted well to the slow pitches and in this semi-final it is likely that at least half of the overs will be bowled by spinners. But Chennai are far superior with the bat.

In contrast to some of the other teams, they have pursued a tactic of all-out attack in the opening overs, helped of course by the sublime form of Matthew Hayden. A succession of big-hitting middle-order batsmen can then keep up the momentum. By contrast, Bangalore have struggled to get a good start and often it has fallen to Rahul Dravid or Mark Boucher to bail them out. Given this disparity in batting firepower, it is hard to see anything other than a Chennai win and that is why they are as short as [1.8] to win this game with Anil Kumble's men on [2.2]

Top Batsman

For Chennai, there is little point in looking to anyone other than Hayden. And given that he has top scored in 7 of the 11 games in which he has played, odds of [3.0] about him being top Chennai scorer still represent value. The market for top Bangalore batsman is a lot more open. Jacques Kallis has top scored 4 out of 14 times and would be a good bet at [4.0] or higher. But if you want a solid run for your money, you could do worse than side with the wise old head of Rahul Dravid. He has been batting at three lately and so should get plenty of overs in which to shine and you should be able to get [6.0] or thereabouts.

Featured Market

Bangalore's average opening partnership is 14, compared to 31 for Chennai so you can back the Super Kings with confidence in the highest opening partnership market at [1.75] or higher.

Andrew Hughes says: Back Chennai to beat Bangalore @ [1.8]