We are less than two weeks away from the start of the 2021 IPL. The BCCI has confirmed that the first part of the IPL will be played in empty stadiums due to COVID-19 restrictions. The IPL starts on April 9 and the IPL final will take place on May 31.
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In this article, we are going to look at the betting odds for the Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings when it comes to picking an outright winner for the 2021 IPL Championship based on Bet365’s predictions. Our experts will also share their predictions based on the strength and weaknesses of these two sides.
Chennai Super Kings
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have backed the old warhorse MS Dhoni to once again lead the men in yellow. It does not come as a major surprise to hardcore CSK fans as CSK has won the IPL Championship on three occasions (2010, 2011 and 2018). MS Dhoni was the captain on all three occasions and CSK believe that he can lead the team to their fourth IPL championship in 2021.
CSK have betting odds of 8.00 and this is the first time in a long time that they are not in the top three teams who are betting favorites to win the IPL. Their performance in the 2020 IPL is one of the reasons why they are not betting favorites. CSK played poor cricket in IPL 2020 and failed to make the playoffs for the first time in IPL history.
CSK has made a few changes to their squad for the 2021 IPL but the big question is whether those changes are enough for CSK to have a different result in 2021. CSK paid big money to pick up England all-rounder Moeen Ali in the IPL auction along with all-rounder K Gowtham who had done well on the domestic circuit.
Most of their core squad remains the same as Suresh Raina makes his return after sitting out the 2020 IPL. CSK’s performance will depend heavily again on how MS Dhoni performs both as a captain and batsman. When MS Dhoni leads, CSK follows but when MS Dhoni fails, CSK fails.
We think MS Dhoni might have just one more good year in him and hence we think CSK can pull off another IPL championship win.
Punjab Kings
Kings XI Punjab changed their name to Punjab Kings and hope that their fortunes in the 2021 IPL will also change. Punjab Kings did a lot better in 2020 than they usually do and will now be keen on making it to the playoffs in 2021 and pushing for their first IPL Championship.
KL Rahul will once again captain the side and will have to bring out the best in all of his players if Punjab Kings is to do well. Bookmakers have Punjab Kings as the betting underdogs with odds of 11.00 to win.
One reason why Punjab Kings are the underdogs is because they don’t have the most talented side on paper. The owners strengthened the bowling line-up of Punjab Kings with two expensive additions by bringing in Aussie fast men Riley Meredith and Jhye Richardson. The weaknesses for Punjab is in the spin department.
If Punjab can get their battling line-up correct and win their first few games, it will do well to send confidence to the entire squad that they do have the talent and confidence to be a threat and challenge the best teams in IPL 2021. Punjab has struggled in the past and we think they will yet again in 2021.
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