IPL / Edward Hammond-Kenny / 25 March 2010 / Leave a comment Bet Now View Market

The pre-match focus will be all about Tendulkar v Hayden but one man is in far better form - Edward Hammond-Kenny has the info.

Venue and Conditions

Game 21 of the IPL sees the show return to the Brabourne Stadium for the fourth time this tournament as Sachin Tendulkar and his Mumbai Indians take on the Chennai SuperKings. So far the pitch has favoured the batsman slightly with no sideways movement on offer for the pace men. Spinners can be effective though, Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble have both bowled spells here with an economy rate of just 4.5 or lower. A solid first innings total here looks to be in the region of 175-180.

Team News

Mumbai may field the same team that beat Kolkata last time out with the two West Indians Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo continuing to provide their all round skills, though Ryan McLaren is yet to impress and he may be jettisoned for Sanath Jayasuriya to get yet another chance to prove his form. Sachin Tendulkar will lead the batting line as usual as the sublime form he has shown this tournament continues.

Chennai will have to decide whether to gamble on the fitness of their captain MS Dhoni, he is expected to make the trip to Mumbai but it will be a game time decision whether he makes it onto the field or not.

Match Odds

Mumbai are the hot favourites for this game, available at [1.65] currently with Chennai on offer at [2.48]. Tendulkars' team are one of the most balanced sides in the tournament, they bat deep but the key to most of their victories is the bowling unit. The likes of Lasith Malinga, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh have great economy rates and will look to strangle the Chennai innings and grind it to a halt.

The SuperKings have been getting good starts from the bat of Matthew Hayden, but in the last few games their middle order has struggled to convert these starts into match winning innings, the tied match against Punjab being a prime example of a middle order implosion. The key for Chennai is for the likes of Suresh Raina and Murali Vijay to start contributing serious runs to solidify the batting line up.

Top Batsman

Tendulkar's appetite for runs never ceases to amaze and he currently leads the Mumbai team in total runs and batting average and has top scored in three of Mumbai's four games so far. The youngster Saurabh Tiwary has emerged as a consistent threat to Tendulkar in this market with his powerful hitting. Pollard cost a lot of money and his betting form is at best sketchy, he is under pressure and needs a good score.

If Dhoni doesn't play and with Suresh Raina struggling for form it is hard to look beyond Matthew Hayden once again for top Chennai bat, even if his constant switching between the Mongoose and his normal bat is getting a little tiresome. One option though is Parthiv Patel, even though his batting is a little turgid he will look to play the anchor role and bat as long as possible.

Featured Market

The batsman head-to-head market of Tendulkar v Hayden should provide excitement as the silky batting of Sachin is pitted against the mighty Mongoose of Matty Hayden. Note Sachin is averaging 58 to Hayden's 35 so far in IPL 3.

Trivia

Matthew Hayden averaged 52 in IPL 2 using one bat, he is currently averaging 35 in IPL 3 swapping between his normal bat and the Mongoose. Bad Mongoose!

Best Bet

Take note of the stats and back Tendulkar to outscore Hayden if you can get [1.75] or more on the head-to-head market.