IPL Betting: Hussey can star as Mumbai get IPL defence underway
Published:Defending champions Mumbai Indians get the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League underway with a cracking contest against 2012 champions Kolkata Knight Riders.
And it’s the Indians who will be confident of getting the defence of their title off to a winning start having won 10 of the 13 matches played between the between the two sides.
Rohit Sharma’s team, who will now be without the services of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar following his retirement, are 4/6 for victory, while Kolkata are 6/5 to make a winning start.
It was a mixed IPL auction for Mumbai, with the loss of Tendulkar compounded by key performers Dwayne Bravo and Dinesh Karthik moving to other sides.
But with Sharma, who is 5/2 to score 50, and the experienced Michael Hussey at the top of the order and big hitters such as Kieron Pollard and Corey Anderson ready to launch the ball out of the park they can more than make up for what they’re missing.
Last year’s Orange Cap winner Hussey is an excellent addition to this Mumbai line-up and it could pay to side with the Australia in the Batsman Matchbet 2 market against Jacques Kallis.
The South African, who retired from all forms of international cricket this year, has come under scrutiny for his performances in T20 cricket in recent years and Hussey can overcome a -3.5 run handicap to score more runs than the all-rounder at 5/6.
The former Aussie international had a brilliant 2013 season at the IPL scoring 733 runs from just 17 matches and it was a huge surprise that Chennai did not retain his services.
But the Super Kings loss is the Indians’ gain and Hussey can make a good start to another assault on the Orange Cap by scoring over 22.5 runs at odds of 5/6.
The 38-year-old is also 4/1 with Ladbrokes to top score in the Batsman Handicap market, outscoring the likes of teammates Sharma, Ambati Rayudu and the opposition of Jacques Kallis, Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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