Kick your IPL 2021 off on a winning note by placing these three bets from the Mumbai vs Bangalore curtain-raiser

ByIndiBet, SportsCafe Editor

04/08/2021

The return of the IPL means that there will be fours, sixes and drama in plenty, but more pertinently the new season of the T20 extravaganza will also mark the return of Indibet’s tips. So, buckle up, folks. It is Mumbai vs Bangalore on Friday and boy there’s SO MUCH CASH there for the taking.

Mumbai to hit more sixes than Bangalore @ 1.85

In sport, they say, there is no better feeling than getting off to a winning start. So why should betting be any different? Here is a market which will GUARANTEE YOU an abundance of cash. Trust us when we say that when it comes to hitting sixes, Mumbai vs Bangalore is a NO-CONTEST. In IPL 2020, Bangalore hit a total of 66 sixes in 15 games, which equates to an average of 4.4 big ones per game. Now, this is not bad. The problem, though, is that they look absolutely novice in front of Mumbai’s figures. Last season, the Blues hit a ridiculous 137 sixes - the most by any side - which is almost twice as many sixes per game (8.56) as their Bangalore counterparts. And quite remarkably, this figure rose to 9.5 sixes per game in the knockout stages. Mumbai also pummelled Bangalore in H2H games as they hit 10 more sixes (23) than their Red counterparts (13) across the two games they played last season. These numbers are ridiculous enough, but if you break them down, they look truly absurd. A total of 5 Mumbai batsmen hit 15 or more sixes last season, while for Bangalore, only AB de Villiers managed to hit more than 12 sixes in the season. Sure enough, the Reds have added Maxwell to their ranks, but, erm, we’d like to politely remind you that the Victorian hit a grand total of 0 sixes last season. If these figures are not convincing enough for you to head to Indibet and favor Mumbai to hit more sixes, here’s one more - in IPL 2020, Mumbai hit more sixes than their opponents in each of their last 8 matches. This should have sealed the deal, we presume?

Mumbai to score more runs in the first six overs @ 1.85

When compared to the previous market, this is close. But hey, Mumbai are still clear - and by some distance. Last season, Mumbai scored an average of 47.43 runs in the first six overs, a tally that was only bettered by Hyderabad. You would think that Bangalore would have been close to this figure but they were not: their average score of 41.93 was the third-worst in the entire league. A part of this was due to the inability of Virat Kohli - who struck at a mere 109.5 in the powerplay last season - to make use of the field restrictions and this time around they’ve compounded their problems by asking the skipper to open. It was also telling that, last year, Bangalore got progressively worse in the powerplay: after scoring an average of 44 runs in their first 8 games, they managed just 39.55 per game in their last 7, a figure which dropped to an embarrassing 38 in the final four matches. In contrast, while Mumbai scored 46 runs per game in their first 7 games, their tally improved to 48.55 in the last 9 games of the season and shot up to an unbelievable 58.5 in the playoffs. And yes, both these sides react differently to playing in Chennai - in IPL 2019, Bangalore posted just 33 in the powerplay in their only game at the venue en route to suffering an embarrassing loss while Mumbai not only won both their matches at the stadium but outscored their opponents in the first six overs on both instances. Trust not just the numbers but also your instincts and head to Indibet to place this bet RIGHT NOW!

Yuzvendra Chahal to be Bangalore’s top bowler @ 3.3

Now, we’ll admit it - this is a risky bet and there are no two ways about it. But in the spectrum of ‘risky bets’, picking Chahal to be RCB’s top-bowler, that too in Chennai, should be right up there as the most risk-free ‘risky’ bet to place. First, there’s the factor of Chahal being the side’s best bowler, in general. In each of the last two seasons, Chahal has finished as Bangalore’s top wicket-taker by some distance and last year, in fact, the leggie took 10 more wickets than any Bangalore bowler. Then comes the spin factor. Chennai, as we know, is a spin-paradise with spinners having taken 58% of all wickets at the venue in the 2019 season, meaning pacers can all but be taken out of the equation. With Zampa unavailable, Sundar will serve as Chahal’s closest competitor for the ‘top bowler’ tag but the off-spinner is inherently NOT a wicket-taker. Sundar took just 0.53 wkts per game last season, which was almost a wicket per game fewer than Chahal’s tally of 1.4. On top of all this, Chahal was Bangalore’s ‘top bowler’ in 3 of the side’s last 5 matches last season and, incidentally, he was also the Reds’ top bowler the last time they paid a visit to Chepauk. With everything stacked in the leggie’s favor, it would only be wise to jump to Indibet and place a bet on Yuzzie Chahal being the top bowler for Bangalore come April 9.