Richard Mann previews the opening weekend of IPL 2025, with three matches covered and a couple of recommended bets to consider.
Cricket betting tips: IPL
2pts Sunrisers Hyderabad highest first six overs score against Rajasthan Royals at 4/6 (General)
2pts Chennai Super Kings to beat Mumbai Indians at 10/11 (Sky Bet, Betfred)
Sunrisers Hyderabad v Rajasthan Royals
- When: 10:00, Sunday
- Where: Hyderabad
- How to watch: Sky Sports Cricket
Sunrisers Hyderabad kick off their season by entertaining Rajasthan Royals on Sunday.
Beaten finalists last season, Sunrisers are sure to adopt the all-out-attack approach with the bat that served them so well last term. Three of the four highest scores last season were posted by Sunrisers.
Names to look out for are Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen who form the core of this powerful Sunrisers batting line-up.
Head and Abhishek will rekindle their opening partnership, and each picked up three Man of the Match gongs last season. They are 8/1 and 9/1 respectively on Sunday.
With Jos Buttler having ended his long association with the Royals, I’d be slightly more concerned about the away batting here, for all there is still quality in the shape of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag.
Nevertheless, I won’t be rushing to take the 13/8 (Sky Bet) for both teams to score 200+ runs, even though this ground witnessed seven scores of 200+ in seven matches played here last term.
Perhaps playing overs on Sunrisers’ runs, should they bat first, will be the way to go.
At this stage, the bet that stands out is for SUNRISERS TO HAVE THE HIGHEST FIRST SIX OVERS SCORE at 4/6.
There have been some changes to both bowling attacks in the off-season, but the Royals batting has been weakened by that loss of Buttler.
Even with Buttler opening the batting last season, no Royals batsman could boast a strike-rate better than the 163.76 Shimron Hetmyer finished the campaign with.
In contrast, Abhishek struck at 204.21, Head 191.55, and Klaasen 171.07.
It’s worth emphasising again what a good place to bat Hyderabad was last season, but still, those numbers suggest a stark difference in approach from the respective top orders.
Back Sunrisers to win the early race again.
Chennai Super Kings v Mumbai Indians
- When: 14:00, Sunday
- Where: Chennai
- How to watch: Sky Sports Cricket
In Sunday’s second offering from the IPL, Chennai Super Kings play host to Mumbai Indians.
This fixture pits the two most successful franchises in the history of the IPL against each other, but for Mumbai, things have been a struggle more recently. They finished bottom of the league table last season.
As a result, a big revamp of their squad was carried out at the latest mega auction, with Trent Boult and Ryan Rickelton two big signings to note.
However, Jasprit Bumrah isn’t expected to play on Sunday as he continues his recovery from a serious back injury, and the hosts look a good bet at 10/11.
Even when not quite as good last term, CSK still won five of their seven home fixtures to enhance an already outstanding record in Chennai.
With a strong and experienced spin attack – boosted further by the captures of Ravi Ashwin and Noor Ahmed this season – CSK have always been incredibly hard to beat at home in turning conditions these familiar faces know so well.
And in addition to those singings, Devon Conway is fit again having missed last year through injury, while we can surely expect better from superstar Rachin Ravindra who failed to fire in the IPL last season but was leading runscorer at the recent Champions Trophy.
This looks a stronger CSK outfit this year, as I’ve argued in my outright preview here, while the jury is still out on Mumbai, especially when without Bumrah.
Given that wonderful home record, CSK rate a good bet to start the season with a win.
Posted at 1420 GMT on 21/03/25
Related links
- Richard Mann's IPL outright preview
- Richard Mann's IPL specials preview
- Paul Krishnamurty's IPL guide to the grounds
- Click here for Sky Bet's cricket odds
- Latest Cricket...Only Bettor Podcast
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