After the excitement of the Cricket World Cup attention turns to the shorter format of the game when the 2011 Indian Premier League gets underway on Friday. The great Sachin Tendulkar's Mumbai Indians are favourites according to the odds, with Stan James bookmakers pricing them 9/2, but they should face a stiff challenge from defending champions Chennai Super Kings and potential dark horses Kolkata Knight Riders.
Much of India is still riding on the crest of a wave after India's brilliant World Cup win and many of those Indian and world stars will have to revert to the Twenty20 format of the game over the next seven weeks. Ten teams are separated into two groups and the top teams go on to a knockout phase, much like the recent World Cup, and those Indian teammates could soon become rivals as they bid to win the fourth IPL tournament.
The Mumbai Indians lead the way after finishing runners up last year and their bid will be led by the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. The 'Little Master' showed he still has plenty of talent and he is currently favourite to end the IPL Twenty20 season as top run scorer again, with Stan James offering him at industry best priced odds of 14/1. He topped the charts last year with 618 runs but will be hoping to get his hands on the trophy this time round after they lost to Chennai Super Kings in the 2010 final.
Chennai Super Kings can be backed at odds of 5/1 to retain their title and they boast a wealth of talent. They are led by MS Dhoni, who wrote himself into the history books by leading India to their first World Cup win since 1983, and he boasts plenty of talented Indian teammates as well with Suresh Raina and Murali VIjay amongst his ranks. They get the tournament underway on Friday when they play Kolkata Knight Riders, who look like potential dark horses.
The Knight Riders are available at industry best priced odds of 7/1 with StanJames.com after they splashed out an IPL record of $2.4 million on Gautum Gambhir. The Indian opener played a match winning knock in the World Cup final and he is joined by a wealth of international talent, including last season's second highest run scorer Jacques Kallis (572 runs), as well as Shakib Al Hasan, Brett Lee, Eoin Morgan, Yusuf Pathan and Ryan ten Doeschate. Each of those players is a match winner in their own right and we fancy the Knight Riders could well be a decent punt for the title this year.
Elsewhere, Daniel Vettori captains the Royal Challengers Bangalore, who are a 13/2 best price punt for the IPL 2011. They have AB De Villiers in their ranks and the South African is priced a tempting 22/1 to be the tournament's top run scorer this year.
Meanwhile, Shane Warne's Rajasthan Royals are hugely unfancied at odds of 12/1 despite winning the tournament in 2008 and could cause a few upsets. There are also two new franchises as Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers Kerahli are added to expand the tournament to ten teams for what should be another thrilling IPL spectacle.
Outright Winner Odds
5/1 Mumbai Indians
11/2 Chennai Super Kings
13/2 Royal Challengers Bangalore*
7/1 Kolkata Knight Riders*
7/1 Deccan Chargers
7/1 Kochi Tuskers Kerala
8/1 Pune Warriors*
10/1 Delhi Daredevils*
12/1 Kings XI Punjab
12/1 Rajasthan Royals
Top Batsman Odds
14/1 Sachin Tendulkar*
16/1 Virender Sehwag*
18/1 Jacques Kallis*
18/1 Kumar Sangakkara*
18/1 Tillakaratne Dilshan
18/1 Gautam Gambhir
20/1 Mahela Jayawardene*
22/1 Shane Watson*
22/1 AB De Villiers
25/1 BAR
Top Bowler Odds
14/1 Lasith Malinga*
16/1 Pragyan Ojha
18/1 Zaheer Khan*
20/1 Dirk Nannes*
20/1 Harbhajan Singh
20/1 Amit Misra
22/1 Dale Steyn*
22/1 Daniel Vettori
25/1 BAR
Odds supplied by StanJames.com, who provide a variety of betting markets, including live betting in-running, for the 2011 Indian Premier League - which starts on Friday 8th April.
Posted: Tuesday, 5th April 2011
Author: Chris James
Tags: indian premier league, ipl, sachin tendulkar, stan james,
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