John Wright is a highly-respected veteran of the sports betting and sports management industries.  Here, for SharpBetting.co.uk,  he dives into the fist match of the much anticipated IPL 2024.  The tournament dates are 22nd March through to 26 May.

Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru

The TATA IPL 2024 starts this Friday 22nd March, when defending champions CSK host RCB at MA Chidambaram Stadium.

These franchises have won five IPL titles between them with, surprisingly, the RCB contributing a fat zero to the total combined total.

Last season RCB had a competitive batting line-up that often got off to fast starts with Kohli and skipper Faf Du Plessis but was frequently let down by their middle to lower order and their bowling, to finish comfortably outside the play-offs .  This season they will hope that English left-armer Reece Topley remains fit to support Mohammed Siraj who took the most wickets for the franchise in 2023.

The acquisition of Cameron Green from Mumbai will hopefully support Glenn Maxwell in that middle-order finishing role. 

Chennai seems to have a solid squad this year and will be very difficult to beat at home where the average first innings score was 170, but spin bowling seemed to control and suffocate totals even after fast power play starts.

The Super Kings will miss Devon Conway's experience at the top of the order as he is out for at least the regular season this term with a thumb injury but new young white ball sensation from NZ  Rachin Ravindra is likely to replace him to open alongside Gaikwad. 

Chennai have many experienced spin options in their likely eleven with Jadeja , Moeen Ravindra supporting the underrated Srilankan Theekshana. 

The toss winner will probably look to chase as it’s not a conducive batting surface where totals of over 200 are rare and Power Play runs will be key before the spinners get into their work. 

Faf Du Plessis has topped the RCB batting stats in the last two seasons and the Bengaluru franchise will need Kohli and Maxwell to contribute heavily this season especially as after the big three not one RCB batter reached 150 runs for the entire season in 2023.

With RCB not likely playing a front-line spinner in Chennai with the likelihood that Maxwell and maybe either leggy Sharma or Mayak Dagar bowling eight of the allocation this could be the deciding factor. 

I am also a big fan of left-hand batter Shivam Dube he has been very explosive when representing the Indian national team in this format and with a possible T20 World Cup berth up for grabs he along with many Indian young white ball batters has a crucial IPL 2024 season in front of them. 

Selections

  • Chennai to win @ 1.70 (especially if they bowl first) 
  • Faf Du Plessis -  Top RCB scoring batter @  3.75 
  • Shivam Dube  - Top CSK  scoring batter  @  6.00 

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Read more of John's thoughts on the TATA IPL 2024 here.   And check out John's cricket insights on the Betting Weekly: Cricket podcast.  You can connect with him on X at johnwright15.