Richard Mann seeks out the value from the specials markets in IPL 2025, with recommended bets ranging from 16/1 to 9/2.
Cricket betting tips: IPL specials
2pts Sunrisers Hyderabad highest innings score of the season at 11/2 (Sky Bet)
2pts Riyan Parag top Rajasthan Royals tournament batsman at 9/2 (General)
2pts Mohit Sharma top Delhi Capitals tournament bowler at 10/1 (General)
1pt Abhishek Sharma top tournament batsman at 16/1 (General)
The top tournament runscorer market can quickly be whittled down to opening batsmen only, given that only twice has a non-opener won the Orange Cap in the entire history of the IPL.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru opener Virat Kohli finished top of the tree last season, making use of some excellent pitches at home to plunder 741 runs at an average of 61.75.
Kohli ought to go very close again following another excellent tournament at the recent Champions Trophy. The standout 12/1 with bet365 for him to go back-to-back is fair enough.
Others to note are Shubman Gill, winner of this market in 2023, and Jos Buttler – that pair set to form a formidable opening partnership for Gujarat Titans.
Having plumped for Chennai Super Kings in my outright preview here, Ruturaj Gaikwad was most definitely considered at 14/1. The negative with Gaikwad is concern the pitches in Chennai might not always lend themselves to big scores.
Abhishek the pick for top tournament bat
And that tips the scales in favour of ABHISHEK SHARMA, who stepped up a level when scoring 484 runs in IPL 2024, making three fifties along the way.
This is a young man very much on the up, so much so that he has jumped ahead of Yashasvi Jaiswal in India’s T20I plans, opening the batting in the recent series win over England and responding with a brutal 79 at Eden Gardens and then a magnificent 135 in Mumbai.
Initially a little rough around the edges, Abhishek is beginning to look much more like the finished article by the day, and it’s fair to assume his ceiling has not yet been reached.
Crucially, Hyderabad was one of the best places to bat last season, witnessing a host of high scores, and another deep run from last year’s beaten finalists seems highly likely.
All things considered, 16/1 about Abhishek is fair.
The market is slowly catching up to the fact Jasprit Bumrah will miss the start of Mumbai Indians’ campaign, meaning those bookmakers still only offering 11/1 in the top tournament bowler market ought to be short of business.
Historically, seamers have tended to dominate this market, so Chennai Super Kings spearhead Matheesha Pathirana certainly caught the eye at 16/1.
The drawback with him is that he is injury-prone and only managed six appearances last term – still taking 13 wickets.
Having moved to Sunrisers Hyderabad at the latest mega auction, Mohammed Shami could be the answer, but a flat pitch at home won’t make his life easy.
In the end, the coin came down on no bet.
What are the best bets?
In the individual team markets, I like the look of RIYAN PARAG to finish the season as top runscorer for Rajasthan Royals, just as he did last term.
Parag is a class act, a beautiful player to watch who was the third-highest runscorer in the entire competition last term, making 573 runs at 52.09.
He won’t open the batting, an obvious negative, but I have him down to bat at number three in this Royals line-up, where he won’t have Buttler to beat this year.
There is still Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson to worry about, but Parag outshone both last season and, at just 23 years of age, is another whose best days are surely ahead of him.
Odds of 9/2 represent value.
So, too, does the 10/1 about MOHIT SHARMA in the top Delhi Capitals tournament bowler market.
Mohit was snapped up by the Capitals having again finished as the leading wicket-taker for Gujarat Titans last term, claiming 13 scalps. In 2023, he bagged 27 wickets.
A real death specialist, don’t expect Mohit to do much bowling before the halfway mark, but he’ll do the bulk of the work at the back end of innings when his plethora of variations come to the fore.
Delhi was tough going for bowlers last year, so the best chance for wickets should come from those slog overs at the death.
Having taken 19 wickets himself last season, only two less than man of the moment Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell takes the eye at 14/1 in the top Kolkata Knight Riders tournament bowler market.
Russell enjoyed an outstanding campaign, looking lean and mean, and he was one of the key driving forces behind KKR’s title success.
The West Indian all-rounder has always been a wicket-taker, and his strike-rate with the ball (9.2) last term was far superior to Varun’s (14.2), or anyone else in KKR colours.
But this is a bet that has the potential to drive backers round the bend, with Russell rarely completing his full quota of overs and often appearing to be carrying niggles and injures.
I’ll just about him let him go, especially with Varun having seemingly taken his game to the next level in the last 12 months.
Big scores expected from Sunrisers
Finally, perhaps the best bet from the specials markets is SUNRISERS HYDERBAD to post the highest innings score of the season.
The men in orange won this market last year courtesy of their 287-3 away to Royal Challengers Bengaluru, and in fact, they were responsible for three of the four highest scores of the season. All three of those totals were in excess of 250.
Abhishek Sharma is FLYING already ⚡ pic.twitter.com/z8XYfEvWaO
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) May 2, 2024
I’ve already talked up Abhishek Sharma, and his opening partnership with Travis Head is the most destructive in the competition. Head finished last season with 567 runs and a whopping strike-rate of 191.55.
The dangerous Ishan Kishan has been brought in from Mumbai Indians to further strengthen that top order, which will then make way for middle-order master Heinrich Klaasen, who for my money is the best T20 batsman in world cricket right now.
The South African powerhouse scored close to 500 runs last term, with three fifties, and will be ably supported by exciting young gun Nitish Kumar Reddy who impressed greatly in last winter’s Test series against Australia. Atharva Taide looks a good pick-up, too.
The way Sunrisers approach their batting, and the personnel within their ranks, means high scores are always on the cards with this side, and it’s worth emphasising again just how favourable for runs their home ground was last season. From seven matches played on this ground, there were seven scores of 200+.
With defending champions and fellow big-hitters KKR having lost a couple of key batsmen from last season, Sunrisers look the team to beat in this particular market.
Posted at 1630 GMT on 20/03/25
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