Sanju Samson to score over 24.5 @ 1.85

If you’re willing to lay your faith on Samson to score over 24.5, then this Shikhar Dhawan bet should then be pretty straightforward. I mean, come on, who wouldn’t trust Shikhar? He’s the mother of all bankers. Dhawan has accumulated over 450 runs in each of his last 5 IPL seasons with last season being his best - a staggering 618 runs from 17 matches. But let’s come to the more relevant figures. Since 2013, the southpaw averages an astonishing 48.8 at the Wankhede. His last 9 innings at the venue read 85, 43, 26, 0, 5, 48, 82, 42, 59 and only twice has he failed to score below 26. His 85 in the first encounter of the season vs CSK was only further proof for the fact that he absolutely loves batting in Mumbai. Wankhede aside, what about the Royals? Well, it turns out he loves playing against them too. Dhawan averages 40 versus RR since IPL 2015 and in his last 7 innings versus the Royals, has struck four fifties. He, in fact, struck a power-packed 57 the last time he encountered RR. The veteran has passed fifty in three of his last 5 IPL innings, so asking him to score over 26.5 is almost an insult. You have two options, then. One, you could head to Betbarter right now, place this bet and then slap your thigh. Or else, two, you could slap your face and question your life choices. 

Remember when Eoin Morgan ‘leaked’ Rajasthan Royals’ opening pair a week ahead of the season? Well, that turned out to be a lie. The Royals, instead, fielded a pair of Manan Vohra and Ben Stokes and had to settle for an opening stand of ‘zero’. Ironically enough, they’ll have to field YET ANOTHER new pair - their seventh since the start of last season - due to the injury to Stokes. Now we don’t know who the openers will be, but we can tell you with confidence that there could be high chances of the ‘new pair’ failing. RR registered a duck for the first wicket in game one, yes, but it’s been a struggle for them for quite a while. In 3 of their last 4 IPL games, the Royals have scored below 20.5 for the first wicket and most of it came via their ‘best’ pair, Stokes and Uthappa. Last season, they lost more powerplay wickets than any other team and this was largely due to the absolute shambolic nature of their opening partnerships. Come Thursday, they will be up against a confident Delhi unit that not only struck after just 7 runs in their first game of the season vs CSK, but has taken the first wicket before the 21-run mark in three of their last 4 IPL games. RR have shown that the nature of the wicket has no correlation to their woes at the top of the order, so expect the same to continue come Thursday. We do not know who will open for RR, but we know for sure that you stand a chance of getting 1.83x of your initial investment back by placing this bet on Betbarter.