Betting tips / Andrew Hughes / 03 May 2012 / Leave a comment Bet Now View Market

Andrew Hughes has watched Pune slide down the table, but has a feeling they can get their IPL campaign back on track against Mumbai in their next IPL match-up.

Team News
Pune have made regular changes throughout the tournament and there will probably be more as they try to arrest their slide. They will be hoping that Jesse Ryder has recovered from his stomach bug and he could take the place of Marlon Samuels. They should also surely find a place for crack Twenty20 bowler, Alfonso Thomas.

Mumbai got back on track with a narrow win over Deccan last time, in which they reverted to their original opening partnership of Richard Levi and Sachin Tendulkar. Levi was cleaned up by Dale Steyn first ball, but they may give him another chance and there could be a return for Australian bowler Clint McKay

Venue and Conditions
The Subrata Roy Stadium is a new venue and early on in the tournament, teams were treating the pitches there with caution. But although some of the faster bowlers have been able to get shorter length deliveries to skid on, there seem to be few demons in the surface and the short boundaries make this essentially a high scoring venue.

Match Odds
Pune are in trouble, having lost five of their last six. Injuries to Angelo Mathews and Ashok Dinda have not helped, but they have one of the biggest squads in the tournament so that shouldn't be an issue. Their main problem has been in selection and they've struggled to get the right combination at the top of the order.

Still, if they can sort out their batting line-up and make sure that the big hitters like Steven Smith and Robin Uthappa get enough time to do their thing, they aren't far off being a decent team. By contrast, Mumbai have been shambolic at times and simply haven't scored enough runs to give their impressive bowling attack a chance.

If Pune can deal with the threat of Lasith Malinga, they have the edge in batting firepower and at 2.32 are the clear value selection here.

Top Pune Batsman
With a continually changing line-up picking the top Pune bat is a tricky one. Robin Uthappa is usually a good choice but he batted as low as five in their last game and it's best to stick with the established stars who are certain to bat in the top four. Michael Clarke is a reliable performer on Indian pitches, but Sourav Ganguly showed glimpses of his old form against Deccan and is the pick at 5.0

Top Mumbai Batsman
Mumbai have been pretty ordinary with the bat and there aren't too many contenders for top batsman. Ambati Rayadu tops the averages, but may bat as low as six and the safe option is to go with talented IPL performer Rohit Sharma at 5.0

Featured Market
The last game in Pune saw 17 sixes struck and now that teams are confident that the new surface holds no demons, we can expect more big hitting given the short boundaries. Lay '9 and under' in the Total Sixes market at 3.0

Recommended Bet
Back Pune Warriors to beat Mumbai Indians at 2.32