Ipl 26 Any preferences?

I'm not a great fan of franchise cricket but like to have a fun punt on the outrights.

Last year i backed Royal Challengers to win @ 9/1 before a ball was bowled so did well there.
They look sure to be hard to beat this time around but my dart falls on the Sunrisers @ 9/1 this year. They have a fearsome looking top order (Head, Verma, Kishan) but the bowling looks a bit light given that Pat Cummins looks likely to only play half of the games.  Still reasonable value to give backers a run for their money.

I also like speculative punts on the top batsman and bowler markets for a bit of interest :

Batsmen - Head at 20s, Marsh at 20s , Kishan at 25s

Bowler - Kuldeep at 12s, Boult at 20s, Siraj 25s

Good luck to all who have a bet.

Thanks Dixie for your assessment.
I like a bet on outrights as your money lasts several weeks!
Have gone for Royal Challengers and Mumbai Indians . I agree that Sunrisers are a strong pick but I can't make much backing 3 teams !
Good luck.

Brians, good start for the Challengers, maybe i should have stuck with them after all

As expected, the Sunrisers batting looks pretty good but the bowling distinctly average.
at least Kishan got my top batsman bet off to a decent start.

These matches make me question if we are plying the same game in England. They seem to be able to smash any ball any length out of the stadium ! 12 an over is not enough usually !

It's very much a batsman's game these days. But it seems some of the bowlers are devoid of a brain.
Admittedly it's more difficult to bowl defensively these days as anything just outside leg is called a wide and you can't bowl too many bouncers etc but surely international class bowlers can do better than what we are seeing ?  The number of half trackers saying "hit me out of the ground" is incredible.

I said during the T20 World Cup that bowling standards seem to have gone downhill.  Why more of them don't employ the yorker regularly is beyond me, surely they are capable ? As a decent seam bowler in my youth i found it quite easy to bowl them so i am at a loss to explain why they can't/don't.

The Sunrisers had a comfortable win today, the batting looked good (shame Kishan only got 14 ) and the bowling improved from the first game so hopefully for me they are back on track

You are certainly right abouta good yorker. Try hitting that out of the ground for 6 !

Miller Time!

i babacked RCB and the Titans b4 it started

RR look good

Rule a line out of Gujarat Titans winning the title for me. Cant be having Rashid Khan batting as high as 8 in a lineup.

And im not sure Delhi Capitals can make it, their bowling looks rather toothless.

Well after an eternity we are finally at the business end of the tournament.

Only run rate separated the top three teams, with RCB and Gujarat facing off against each other for a place in the final (well done Dragon, guaranteed at least one finalist ). 

My pick the Sunrisers will play the 4th placed team, likely to be the Royals who should win tomorrow in the last group game against Mumbai who are out of contention. Punjab and Kolkata also could qualify if the Royals mess up. The winner of the Sunrisers v ? then plays the loser of Match 1 (keeping up so far chaps ?) for a place in the final.  Why they just don't have straightforward semi finals is beyond me.

My top bat pick of Ishan Kishan is still in with a shout, at least of getting the top 4 money but my bowlers have not done so well .
Still have my outright bet on the Sunrisers going as well so still have some interest.

Looks like you're right about RR getting 4th. Mumbai's fielding was very poor at the end of the RR innings and Mumbai's batting hasn't started off too brightly either.

'''that said Yadav and Jacks have just given Punja a right walloping

Well that's my Sunrisers bet gone out of the window. A pitiful bowling effort followed by their usually potent top order flopping.
why on earth put the opposition in if you win the toss ?  Ridiculous.

Now it has to be said that the Royals star man Sooryavanshi is an absolute phenomenon, top scorer in the tournament now at the age of 15 years 2 months - can i see his birth certificate please Nobody should be that good at such a young age, if he carries on like this he could become the GOAT. I did mention him on these hallowed pages when the U19 world cup was going on, a remarkable talent.

But today was another perfect example of how so many modern day bowlers are bears of little brain. You cannot hit yorkers for six, but hardly anyone seems able to bowl them nowadays. a few years ago we had Garner, Gough, Younis, Akram etc regularly firing in deliveries that could not disappear over the boundary time and again. Anybody want a bowling coach ? I'm available

Another superb innings for young Sooryavanshi today ,but this time in a lost cause as the Titans easily chased down the victory target of 215.

So they take on RCB in Sunday's final. Both batting line ups are very powerful and although RCB won against the Titans easily the other day, that counts for little as 20/20 games are often a coin toss.  The Titans have a better bowling line up imo but it's a very hard one to call, RCB 4/5 Titans Evs with the bookies.

Another superb innings for young Sooryavanshi today ,but this time in a lost cause as the Titans easily chased down the victory target of 215.

So they take on RCB in Sunday's final. Both batting line ups are very powerful and although RCB won against the Titans easily the other day, that counts for little as 20/20 games are often a coin toss.  The Titans have a better bowling line up imo but it's a very hard one to call, RCB 4/5 Titans Evs with the bookies.

So i should have stuck with the Challengers after all

They were the most consistent team over the tournament so deserve to win it again.

Shame about the anti climatic final, the Titans underperformed and 155 was never going to be enough to defend. The tournament had been an absolute run fest and then the final was a damp squib really.

Well done to any RCB backers.

Selections turned out well. The best team won I think , but its been a good tournament.

yes i had both the finalists antepost- best result wd have been titans but still won on rcb.

i thought they were the best team batted and bowled well all torny. deserved winners.

had gill for top run scorer so just missed out.

enjoyed the comp. better than the rubbish served up here in the hundred and t20