So, the World T20 starts this week in India. I left the Cricket alone after a bad run so hopefully I get can a few wins over the next few weeks. The bigger sides (no disrespect to the others) don't start playing until a week into the tournament so I'd be wary of the first few games. I'll watch with interest and see how the pitches are for the first few games.
It's a wide open tournament I'll tell you that. The betting outright is as follows:
India 2/1
Australia 9/2
South Africa 9/2
England 6/1
New Zealand 10/1
Pakistan 10/1
West Indies 10/1
Sri Lanka 16/1
Bangladesh 25/1
500/1 Bar.
India are favorites and rightly so. Not only because they are on home soil but because they have a really good side who play this format very well. They have aggressive openers in Dhawan and Sharma (sometimes Rahane), they have one of the world's best batsmen in Kohli at 3 or 4 and T20 specialist Raina after him. Yuvraj Singh is back in the fold and he has done OK since coming back and MS Dhoni can still hit a ball as long as anyone. Their seam bowling isn't great, Nehra is still their best option but Jasprit Bumrah is a talented youngster despite his unorthodox action. Their spin options are solid if unspectacular but with it being in India they'll get assistance off the pitch and they'll slow the run rate down even without taking wickets.
Even though the spinners will be important for every team there will be plenty of runs to had in this tournament. Don't be surprised to see 200 plus totals being scored AND chased down. Those of you who watch the IPL will know that. Before each game I'll analyse the markets and see what sticks out. There isn't much time between the toss being done and the game starting and there's about a 10-15 minute window the place run bets before the game. You can always do it in play of course but an over/under of 175 suddenly spikes to 190 plus with a couple of early boundaries. Conversely an over/under of 175 will go down to 160 with an early wicket and with deep batting line ups and runs to be had it's not a bad idea to wait until a team has an inauspicious start and then get on them to score a few.
I'll place a couple of top bat and bowler bets just for a bit of interest before the tournament. You could make a case for about 20 different batsmen but I'm going to stick with those who have IPL experience and those who are both big hitters and stroke players. Kane Williamson is a wonderful batsman. He can take some time to get going but he's the kind of batsman to stick around while three or four wickets are lost and make a 50. AB De Villiers might open for South Africa and whilst his recent form isn't amazing he's familiar with the pitches and he can rack up a big score in a matter of overs. Aaron Finch is another. He's capable of getting a 100 one game and just 6 the next but I fancy him to get one big score and that'll be a good platform (there's no guarantee he'll open although he should, he's lost the captaincy recently in the short format). Another IPL expert is Suresh Raina and I think he'll have a good tournament too. If Chris Gayle's price goes bigger than 14's then I might look again at him but my 4 for top bat are priced as:
Aaron Finch 20/1
Kane Williamson 20/1
Suresh Raina 50/1
AB De Villiers 10/1
For top bowler is prudent to look at the spinners. Tahir is an obvious choice but Adil Rashid can take wickets with ease and I think he'll do well as England's main option. My three for top bowler are:
Adil Rashid 20/1
Imran Tahir 10/1
Dale Steyn 25/1
Don't feel obliged to follow folks, I'm just putting my bets on here so I can have a quick place to look at what I've done. Admittedly I made a good profit at the World Cup last year and I just hope I can do so this year. India at 2/1 are short but they should be and I'm going to have a go at Bangladesh at 25/1. They have some decent players and will feel at home in the conditions. There will be some specials added up over the next few days I'd imagine and if I fancy any I'll pop them up here.
