Given the latest edition of the Indian Premier League concluded as recently as November, it is perhaps unsurprising last year’s finalists head the outright market for the 2021 tournament.
A number of high-profile names such as Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell and Piyush Chawla have been released since last year’s IPL and there have been a handful of key roster changes, but Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals still look the teams to beat.
Mumbai Target Hat-Trick of IPL Titles
Rated 13/5 in the outright market, Mumbai are targeting a third successive IPL title. They won by a solitary run in the 2019 final against Chennai Super Kings but were dominant last year, winning nine of their 14 regular season matches. They then won the final with Delhi by five runs and with the best batch of homegrown talent, it is hard to look past them lifting the trophy again.
Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya make up a reliable core, overseas talents Quinton de Kock, Kieron Pollard and Trent Boult supply the team with top depth and the arrival of Arjun Tendulkar, son of legend Sachin, is intriguing.
The countdown is down to 2⃣ days
ARE. YOU. READY#VIVOIPL pic.twitter.com/g1t8tzFIqP
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 7, 2021
Sunrisers could be Best Outside Threat
Delhi are not a bad option either at 5/1. They are spoilt for choice with Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tom Curran, Sam Billings and Chris Woakes making up their overseas contingent. But they will only be able to field four of those players per game and the injury sustained by captain Shreyas Iyer is a massive blow.
Rajasthan Royals are missing 2020 man of the tournament Jofra Archer and although Chennai Super Kings have acted to improve their batting by acquiring big hitter Robin Uthappa, they still have work to do to turn their worst ever season into a title-winning campaign.
At a bigger price of 13/2, Sunrisers Hyderabad could offer some value. They placed third last season and, almost unchanged, possess a dangerous trio of batsmen in David Warner, Kane Williamson and Jonny Bairstow. Youngster Mujeeb Ur Rahman is also a superb addition to an attack which also features two of the franchise’s best all-rounders in Mohammad Nabi and Jason Holder.
Reliable Warner can Lead Sunrisers’ Challenge
Anyone who likes the look of the Sunrisers in the outright market surely has to consider David Warner a good price to be the tournament’s top runscorer at 8/1.
The consistent Aussie blasted 548 runs last season and in 2019 won the orange cap with a total of 692 runs. He has great willow-wielders around him but is often expected to lead the charge and could thrive under that pressure.
Mumbai talent Suryakumar Yadav is in prime form, scoring 89 runs off 48 balls in two innings during his first Twenty20 international series against England last month, and fired 480, 424 and 512 in his last three IPL campaigns. At 25/1 he could be a superb bet to be the top tournament batsman.
In terms of a top tournament bowler selection, the market leader Bumrah could be the best bet at 8/1. Bumrah will be playing in a Mumbai team brimming with confidence and he took 27 wickets in 15 matches last term when his economy rate of 6.73 was one of the best around in 2020.
*All odds correct at time of writing