Find Me A 100 Winner / Jaymes Monte / 05 May 2009 /

Having started so well the Deccan Chargers now appear to be in freefall whilst the Mumbai Indians have been brilliant at times and less so at others with Tendulkar so often being the difference between success and failure, says Jaymes Monte.

Team News

Both sides have relatively settled batting line-ups and I certainly don't see there being many changes in that department from the Mumbai Indians. Jayasuriya and Tendulkar will open with JP Duminy and Abhisek Nayar following them. Deccan may be tempted to change it around a little as things haven't really gone to plan recently. However, they may also take the view that this is the same side that won their first four games on the bounce and back the players to pull through this bad patch.

With the ball Mumbai boast two of the tournament's top five economical bowlers. Harbhajan Singh has taken just three wickets throughout the tournament but done so at an economy rate of 6.11. And the success story of the 2009 IPL is undoubtedly Lasith Malinga who is the third highest wicket taker with eleven, whilst boasting the best economy rate of the tournament; just 4.36.

Deccan are now without Fidel Edwards who has joined up with his compatriots in England for the opening test. His proficiency in the opening and closing overs of an innings will be sorely missed. However they do have two of the top five tournament wicket takers to call upon; RP Singh and Pragyan Ojha have twenty-two dismissals between them.

Venue, pitch and conditions

Just three IPL matches have been played in Centurion thus far, and a knock of 151.6 has been the average 1st innings score. Of the sides batting first, only the Chennai Super Kings, who set a target of 165 runs, have been victorious. Both Deccan and Delhi posted scores in the 140s and were both chased down in less than 19 overs. Those stats suggest that if the team batting first serve up a sub 150 score it would be well advised to back that total to be chased down with relative ease.

There is expected to be some cloud cover in the area on Wednesday, but the rain shouldn't arrive till Thursday. Meaning there shouldn't be any sign of our old friends Duckworth and Lewis for this match-up and we should get a full twenty overs per side.

Match Odds

Two very evenly matched sides should in theory throw up odds of close to [2.0] the pair. For that reason I'd be more than tempted to take the Deccan Chargers at around the [2.2] mark. Although both teams' recent fortunes suggest that it won't be as one sided as when they met earlier in the tournament and Deccan won extremely comfortably.

Sachin Tendulkar has been so influential with the bat in the majority of Mumbai's victory's that if he is dismissed early on I'd be tempted to top up on Deccan. Conversely, if he gets himself set and scoring runs I'd be looking to get out of any back of Deccan, or at worst, minimise losses.

Top Batsman

The Mumbai Indians' run scoring has largely centred around two men throughout this tournament. The influential 'Little Master', Sachin Tendulkar who has been a pillar of consistency and provided platforms for match winning totals to be built upon. And on the rare occasions that he has slipped up, South African JP Duminy has stepped into fill the void, high scoring with 59 against the Kings XI Punjab and with a tournament average of 46.5. I wouldn't be looking any further than these two men to carry my money in this market.

The tournament also began as a bit of a double act for the Deccan Chargers with the bat, as Herschelle Gibbs and Adam Gilchrist were the ones to consistently make the scoreboard tick. However they do have a bit more strength in depth; Rohit Sharma, Tirumalsetti Suman and Dwayne Smith have all added substantial runs to the cause when called upon. A speculative punt on Suman here at anything around the [7.0], or bigger, mark looks to be a good value wager.

Featured Market

Jayasuriya and Tendulkar have been naturally cautious in starting off their innings throughout the tournament, where as Gibbs and Gilchrist will be keen not to give away an early wicket as they have done in recent matches. For that reason I'd be looking at 'Under 7runs' in the 'First Over Runs' market regardless of which side are put in to bat first.

Jaymes Monte says: Back 'Under 7 runs' in the 'First Over Runs' market at anything bigger than [1.7]

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

:

:

:

?

: