Indian Premier League - IPL / Frank Gregan / 23 April 2010 /

The third place play-off is a repeat of last year's final as the Bangalore Royal Challengers take on the Deccan Chargers under the lights at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Mumbai. Frank Gregan selects the best bets.

Venue and Conditions

Whilst the final has been sold out for weeks, it comes as no surprise that there will be huge gaps in the crowd for the 'clash of the bridesmaids.' This is no dead rubber however, with the winning franchise securing a place in September's T20 Champions League. It will be the third game at the stadium this week, the pitch looked lively during the two semi-finals offering assistance to both the seamers and spinners alike. Deccan's 104 all out against Chennai showed just how difficult it is to chase on this surface.

Team News

Bangalore were in great form a week ago and were many pundits tip to win the tournament. The wheels fell off during their final league match against Mumbai and they found themselves facing the Indians again in the semi-final but without home advantage because of security issues. They lost their semi with the ball in hand during the last five overs, conceding 77 runs which left Mumbai with a total that the Bangalore batsmen never really looked like overhauling.

Jacques Kallis and Manish Pandey have lost their way after being so consistent early on but major surgery is not likely to happen with Champions League qualification up for grabs. Aussie Cameron White will be chomping at the bit but it's unlikely that he'll get his chance with the only probable change involving domestic players, Praveen Kumar, who scored one with the bat and went for 29 runs in three overs, making way for either KP Appanna or Pankaj Singh.

The Deccan Chronicle owns the Chargers and their readers would probably want to drop the entire side after their inept performance in the semi-final when they somehow managed to cream in chasing a very modest total. It was a shocking performance but given the great run the side had been on they were due a blip. Mitchell Marsh could replace Herschelle Gibbs but the Chargers will probably give those who got it so badly wrong a chance to put it right by gaining a Champions League spot. Let's not forget that the Chargers had won five on the trot to get themselves into the semis, they might have had a dreadful night at the office on Thursday but they are still the form team.

Match Odds

On paper, Bangalore look the stronger side and that is clearly influencing the market, they are [1.77] to back with the Chargers at [2.28]. Roll out the old cliché about playing games on paper and add to it the current buzz word 'momentum' and the Chargers, who were flying before the semis, look to be the value bet.

Top Runscorer

Bangalore will be concerned that Jacques Kallis's form has hit a bit of a dip, he has scored only 11 runs in his last two visits to the crease so he may be worth taking on at odds of [3.2] to lay. Kevin Pietersen and Robin Uthappa will have plenty of support in the market which should mean that Rahul Dravid will be available at an inflated price.

Rohit Sharma had a rare failure in the semi-final but has been in very good form throughout the tournament. He is often a bigger price than his averages deserve courtesy of the money that Deccan's foreign contingent of Adam Gilchrist, Herschelle Gibbs and Andrew Symonds attract. Odds of [5.5] or above on Sharma should be snapped up.

Featured Market

If you have a pacemaker fitted, stay away from the tied match market! For the rest of us it's a great opportunity to really get the pulse going, particularly towards the end of the contest when the game is tight. If you're backing, [50.00] is about as good as it's going to get and [1.03] can be matched by early layers.

Trivia

Despite all the nail biting finishes there's been only two tied matches in the history of the IPL.

Best bet: Back the Deccan Chargers at [2.28] or bigger.

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