John Wright is a highly-respected veteran of the sports betting and sports management industries. Here, for SharpBetting.co.uk, he dives into the much anticipated IPL 2024. The tournament dates are 22nd March through to 26 May.
"Take the Mumbai Indians and The Sunrisers against the field this season in the best global franchise tournament of the year".
Introduction
March I always think is an exciting time for sports followers, as most of the elite football competitions are getting to the business end of the season while cup competitions are also around the quarter-final and beyond.
The cricket calendar is as dense as ever with many franchise events overlapping although nothing runs parallel with the TATA IPL.
India has just convincingly defeated England at home in a five-match test series 4-1, after losing the first match in Hyderabad.
On March 22nd in Chennai the 17th edition of IPL begins with defending champions Chennai Super Kings led by legendary MS Dhoni in his 43th year tackling RCB at home who will hopefully have a fit again Virat Kohli to open their batting.
The Indian Premier League is by far the most prestigious annual cricket T20 franchise event and is also the longest, lasting over two months with the scheduling of the Indian Elections possibly halting the event for a small period mid-tournament.
The final will take place in Ahmedabad on May 25th or May 26th which will quickly be followed by the T20 Cricket World Cup which commences in West Indies & USA on June 1st.
Wide open tournament this year
The ten-team IPL 2024 tournament is so wide open as a betting event with Chennai & Mumbai vying for favoritism at around 6.00 (5/1) with the outsiders KKR and Delhi Capitals who were both disappointing last season.
Sunrisers Hyderabad finished bottom of the ladder in 2023 but have many reasons to feel that their prospects might be better this term.
In comes Pat Cummins as the second most expensive player of the auction as skipper who surprisingly takes over from Aiden Markram who has been twice successful in the Sunrisers SA20 franchise captain in the first two seasons of that event
Cummins has had an unbelievable 2023 as leader, winning the World Test Championship, regaining the Ashes away from home, plus capturing the ODI World Cup with his national team.
The Orange Army boasts a plethora of hard-hitting batters including ODI World Cup hero Travis Head to support the likes of Markram, Glenn Phillips and swashbuckling wicketkeeper batter Heinrich.
Last term Sunrisers key signing was Harry Brook who despite scoring one century was bitterly disappointing and now has moved on to the Delhi Capitals this season.
Last season due to the SA20 finishing close to the start of the IPL 2023 and international commitments the SA trio of Markram, Klaasen and Jansen arrived in India late and that effected the team early performances.
The addition of Cummins along with Jansen, speedster Umran Malik and the reliable experience of Bhuvi Kumar means the seam bowling looks strong plus Washington Sundar and Hasaranga from Srilanka who has previously bowled well in this competition for RCB will spearhead the spin department.
Big-price value
Prices of around 12.00 (11/1) for Sunrisers Hyderabad certainly make appeal.
Of the other sides, Chennai Super Kings have bought well. Kiwi Daryl Mitchell is a cracking signing and is, without doubt, one of the most consistent international white-ball batters in world cricket, but they will also miss Devon Conway’s runs at the top of the order. The adopted Kiwi has broken his thumb and will miss half the event at least.
Mumbai Indians, multiple winners of IPL do look powerful with a trio of young Indian batting in Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma supported by Tim David and return of Hardik Pandya (after two successful seasons leading start-up franchise Gujarat Titans). Jasprit Bumrah is the best seam bowler in the event but maybe their weakness could be spin, stalwart Chawla was superb for them last term; it might be asking a lot for him to repeat that performance.
Also, Hardik Pandya has been made captain over the legendary Indian test match skipper Rohit Sharma.
If that choice does not upset team moral throughout the duration of the tournament it would be very hard to see the Mumbai Indians with their IPL pedigree not making the play-offs at the very least.
John's selections
- Take Mumbai Indians at 6.00 (anything above 5.50) to win IPL 2024.
- Also take Sunrisers Hyderabad at 12.00 (anything above 10.00) to win IPL 2024.
Check out more of John's cricket insights here on the Betting Weekly: Cricket podcast and connect with him on X at johnwright15.
