The first match in the 2019 edition of the Indian Premier League sees the defending champions Chennai Super Kings host Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday.
Before we come on to the first match let’s take a look at the outright betting to win the tournament.
To Lift the Trophy
Sunrisers Hyderabad 9/2
Mumbai Indians 5/1
Chennai Super Kings 11/2
Kolkata Kr 11/2
Rajasthan Royals 13/2
Rc Bangalore 13/2
Delhi Capitals 13/2
Kings Xi Punjab 17/2
Click here to bet on the outright markets
Note: Prices correct at the time of posting but are subject to change
Super Kings
The Super Kings were crowned champions in 2018. They finished second on the log in the round robin stage with a record of 9 wins and 5 defeats and went on to beat the Sunrisers in the qualifier and also the final. The platform for success was laid early on with 5 wins in their first 6 matches. Only 1 of their designated home matches was staged in Chennai last season with Pune used as the Super Kings second home.
Squad: Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Karn Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Mohit Sharma, Lungi Ngidi, Murali Vijay, Sam Billings, Imran Tahir, David Willey, Mitchell Santner, Dhruv Shorey, N Jagadeesan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Monu Kumar, KM Asif
Royal Challengers
RCB were disappointing again in 2018, failing to make the play offs after finishing sixth on the log with a record of 6 wins and 8 defeats. They started slowly last season with 1 win and 3 defeats in their first 4 outings and although they won 3 successive matches towards the end of the round robin they lost their final match and came up short in the race for the play offs.
Squad: Parthiv Patel, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Shimron Hetmyer, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Akshdeep Nath, Colin de Grandhomme, Tim Southee, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Devdutt Padikkal, Heinrich Klaasen, Himmat Singh, Pawan Negi, Milind Kumar, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Prayas Barman, Navdeep Saini, Kulwant Khejroliya, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Navdeep Saini
Head to Head
Matches 23, CSK wins 15, RCB wins 7, 1 no result
The Super Kings won both meetings with RCB last season, coming out on top by 5 wickets in Bangalore and 6 wickets in Pune.
Betting - Click here for all markets
Match Result
Chennai Super Kings 8/10
Royal Challengers Bangalore even money
Note: Prices correct at the time of posting but are subject to change
Betting Angle
The Kohli / de Villiers dream team of RCB hasn’t been able to deliver as you would expect and whilst any side with that duo in the ranks has to warrant respect, we side with CSK to make a winning start.
Bet: CSK to win at 8/10 Bet Here
Claim your 1st deposit bonus of up to R10,000 here
Remember you can have your own say on all this week’s matches on our discussion forum