Mr Cricket: Deccan Chargers (Hyderabad) v Delhi Daredevils

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IPL - Deccan Chargers (Hyderabad) v Delhi Daredevils

Toss all form out the window - that's what we have learnt from the electrifying first week of the Indian Premier League. Teams that got flogged in their tournament openers have been coming out and winning (take Shane Warne's Jaipur for instance) while dominant teams in the first round have been brought down to earth very quickly. Twenty20 cricket is like that - you never quite know what you are going to get and things change in the blink of an eye.

Don't just toss the formguide out the window for the Hyderabad and Delhi clash - set it on fire and then stomp on it! The cavalry have arrived for both teams and both will be fielding vastly different outfits to their last outings. Hyderabad, coming off a loss at a shocking Kolkata pitch, will be reinforced by having two of international cricket's most exhilarating six hitters at their disposal - Herschelle Gibbs and Shahid Afridi. They should join Andrew Symonds and Adam Gilchrist in the lineup however the IPL rule that allows only four overseas players to take the field for each team means Hyderabad will have to choose wisely and probably sacrifice some of their bowlers.

Delhi, bolstered by the arrival of Shoaib Malik and impressive Pakistani quick Mohammad Asif, will also have a selection headache trying to pick only four foreign players. So with both teams changing their lineups - and with Hyderbad's form too hard to read after coming off a terrible Kolkata pitch - we will be steering well clear of any head-to-head betting plunges in this match. Despite the big names in the Hyderabad side we do think the batting firepower in both sides is more even than most think. Delhi openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag are made to order for this form of cricket and could easily banker a winning score. For that reason we think Delhi are slight overs because you can get $2.55 with Bill Hurley. But for the reasons mentioned before, we are happy to watch on and we won't be making this an official play.

OPENING ANCHOR

We really like the look of the Delhi openers, Gambhir and Sehwag. Gambhir consistently flies under the radar but is an ultra-impressive type with a big future. Gambhir is coming off an unbeaten 58 in his first IPL hit-out so he is seeing it like a watermelon. The unsung Indian loves this form of the game - smashing 227 runs at the Twenty20 World Cup last year to be the second highest runscorer of the tournament. No field is big enough to contain ""Chubby'' Sehwag and you would think these guys would be a great partnership because they know their games so well. Likely Hyderabad openers Adam Gilchrist and Venugopal Rao don't know each other from a bar of soap. They also don't have their T20 eye in after coming off the terrible Kolkata pitch. We like the Delhi openers to score more runs than the Hyderabad openers and we think the Lasseters quote of $2.05 on Delhi in the openers market is worth 1 unit.

TAKE ON LAXMAN

We are not suggesting an official bet here but we really feel that Hyderabad skipper VVS Laxman is completely unsuited to Twenty20 cricket. He is a pure batting stylist but gets flustered by having to play unorthodox shots in the 20-over format. Just look at how he got out in Kolkata the other night - throwing his wicket away with a terrible skied shot only a ball after being struck on the thumb. There are plenty of markets on the top Hyderabad runscorer and we would be avoiding Laxman (about $6) like the plague.

If you want a bet on these markets, take Laxman on and we think Shahid Afridi is over the odds at about $7 but you would have to take a small risk that he may not play with the international quote. However we think he will because he is made to order for T20. If Hyderabad get off to a good start Afridi could easily be pumped up the order to take advantage of his extraordinary big-hitting skills. If Hyderabad get off to a poor start then Afridi will get a decent bat anyway and get his chance at No.6 or 7 in the later overs. Andrew Symonds, at about the $5 mark, could also be worth a small bet in the top runscorer markets. Symo was impressive and top-scored on the dodgy Kolkata pitch. So maybe something small on Symonds and Afridi if you fel like having an interest - just don't touch Laxman!!