IPL Betting: Chennai Super Kings v Pune Warriors India

Will there be fireworks from Dhoni and Jadeja?

It looks like a fairly straightforward game as Chennai host next-to-bottom Pune, but with both teams struggling in some key areas it might be closer than you think, as Richard O'Hagan explains.

Chennai Super Kings v Pune Warriors India
Start Time: Monday 15 April, 15:30 BST
TV: Live on ITV4 and itv.com 

Chennai Super Kings

On Saturday the Super Kings enjoyed the most dramatic victory of IPL 2013 so far, beating Bangalore courtesy of a last ball no-ball. They will be hoping for a more convincing win over the struggling Warriors as that could send them shooting up the points table into second place. A big issue for them will be what to do about Chris Morris. The South African bowler was a $625,000 signing at the start of the season and he picked up three wickets on Saturday. However, he has also been expensive, going at over ten an over in that game and with the batsmen struggling to chase down targets this season Chennai will have to balance his obvious wicket-taking ability (two of his Bangalore victims were Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli) against that other cost to the team. 

Pune Warriors India

Pune fans must already be exasperated with this team. Having looked like they were pulling things together in beating Rajasthan, they then fell apart again against Mumbai on Saturday, going down by 41 runs. The significant thing about both of those innings was that they passed 140 runs but looked like they would struggle to make too many more. Indeed, Saturday's defeat would have been even worse but for a late-innings blitz of 38 from 26 balls by Mitchell Marsh. A real worry for them has to be the form of Ashok Dinda, who was one of their stars in 2012 but who is now being heavily targeted by opposing teams and whose four overs on Saturday were the most expensive in IPL history.

Venue and conditions

Chennai's form at the MA Chidambaran Stadium is not that good this year, with Saturday's narrow win following a nine run defeat to Mumbai on the opening weekend. It is going to be a hot evening, with temperatures in the thirties and little cloud cover. Dew could therefore be a factor, especially in the second innings.

Match odds

Chennai are the firm favourites at 1.51/2, with Pune at 2.8415/8. Leaving aside Saturday's 166, though, the Super Kings' batting performances have been very similar to Pune's and with both teams' key bowlers leaking runs the odds certainly favour backing the visitors.

Top Chennai batsman

Chennai have been a two batsman team in this year's IPL, with only Mike Hussey and MS Dhoni featuring in the top 25 run scorers at present. There's rarely much value in backing the latter, but people do tend to forget just how good Hussey's record in T20 cricket is. He failed on Saturday but rarely does so in two consecutive games and he will be a solid bet at around 4.15n/a.

Top Pune batsman

Picking a top Pune batsman is tricky, because they have no player who averages more than 30 in this competition so far. Individuals have had one good game at times, but no-one has been able to put together back to back performances. With this in mind, it is worth considering someone who hasn't quite hit their straps yet in the competition and that man would be New Zealander Ross Taylor, who came into the IPL in great form, hasn played every game and yet who only averages a shade over 13 at the moment. He will therefore be good value at around 4.57/2

Recommended bet

Back Pune Warriors India at 2.8415/8 to win