Mr Cricket - Chennai Super Kings v Delhi Daredevils

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IPL - Chennai Super Kings v Delhi Daredevils

Mr Cricket generally steers clear of giving himself a wrap - he leaves that to others (!) - but he has a nice warm and fuzzy feeling today after the bet of the tournament thus far, got up in comprehensive fashion overnight. Anyone who had a decent betting lash at Jaipur at the $1.85 would never have been too worried - even though not everything went right for Jaipur. What about the dud decision to give Shane Watson lbw - another absolute howler from Rudi Koertzen who should just give umpiring away. And Warney was right to give Sourav Ganguly a gobful - we couldn't believe the Indian stood his ground. We made it two from two when our sixes bet in the other game got the chocolates too!

Anyway, enough of the feelgood post-mortem, let's focus on tonight's clash between Chennai and Delhi to try to build our cricket punting profits further. It is that stage of the tournament where the departure of international playters really start to take effect and we have to focus not so much on previous form, but look at how the new-look teams are taking shape. Red-hot Chennai is the only unbeaten side in the IPL but will be hit hard with their two top runscorers Matthew Hayden and Mike Hussey no longer about. Hayden's absence is a monumental blow because the first five overs are crucial in 20-over cricket and the big left-hander was the IPL's leading runscorer with 189 runs. Jacob Oram has also left and he will be missed with the new ball and also with the bat because he is a player who always threatens a big score. The plus for Chennai is that former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming is likely to come in to the fray and he will be a big asset, not only for his batting but also his experience. Fiery South African quick Makhaya Ntini could also get a start for Chennai here.

On the Delhi side of the equation, they have lost only Daniel Vettori. However Vettori's absence could possibly prove just as significant as Hayden's. Delhi are now left without a world-class spinner and we are convinced you need one in this format. Delhi's winning chances just about completely revolve around three men - openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir and opening bowling ace Glenn McGrath. The Delhi openers have gone off like firecrackers at various stages of the tournament and McGrath's devastating spell of 4-29 the other night was simply superb. McGrath also has one of the best economy rates in the IPL (6.31) and he will be a huge threat for the Chennai top-order without Hayden and Hussey.

If you look purely at the ins and outs of this game, it is easy to dismiss Chennai. However we still really like the balance of the Chennai side in this game against Delhi. Chennai has Muttiah Muralidaran which is a huge plus considering Delhi don't have an ace spinner. And the Chennai batting lineup which includes handy hitter Partiv Patel, Stephen Fleming and MS Dhoni still has a pretty good look about it. McGrath can't take four wickets every game and Chennai will be looking to see off McGrath and destroy some of the bowlers at the other end, including the widly unpredictable Mohammad Asif. As we have said before with Delhi, too many of their batting bullets revolve around openers Sehweg and Gambhir, although AB De Villiers could finally get a game. Delhi will be really tested here by Ntini and when Muralidaran comes on to provide some real class.

All in all it looks like a pretty evenly matched clash although we lean towards Chennai, mainly because of the Muralidaran factor (Delhi don't have a decent spinner), the fact that Delhi's batting looks a bit thin again and McGrath will have to be a one-man bowling superman again. Don't forget Chennai are riding high on confidence and perhaps that can help overcome the losses of Hayden and Hussey. Chennai are far from ''specials'' here but we think they can get up in a game where a lot of people would be writing them off. Don't put too much into this game but we think Chennai are slightly over the odds at $2.10 with Lasseters and Paddypower and deserving of a 0.5 unit bet.