Mr Cricket: Chennai v Jaipur

AFTER a night off from IPL tipping (yes, I need sleep too), Mr Cricket is back. He's coming to you from Kingston, Jamaica. The first IPL game we are looking at is the showdown between table-toppers Jaipur and third-placed Chennai. This game should be an absolute ripper.

Shane Warne's Jaipur have already sealed their spot in the semi-finals (who would have thought before the tournament?) while Chennai need to win one of their remaining two matches to qualify. There is a watch on this game because with Jaipur already qualified for the finals, they might rest some of their star players. In fact they have already hinted they probably will. We won't know which ones until the toss of the coin, but if it's any one of Graeme Smith, Shane Watson or Yusuf Pathan it will be a big loss.

For Chennai, the form of their batsman remains a major concern. MS Dhoni (336 runs at 42) is the only Chennai batsman remotely near the top of the IPL runscorers charts. Opener Stephen Fleming (175 runs at 25) had had his moments but Chennai have never really recovered from the big losses of their star Australian batsmen Matthew Hayden and Mike Hussey. Chennai will also have to be on guard for Jaipur swingman Sohail Tanvir who took an incredible 6-14 the last time these two teams played.

It is an interesting betting game to assess because we would probably lean towards Jaipur except for the ‘resting' factor and the fact that Chennai will be absolutely desperate to win the game they need to make it into the finals. Warne never likes losing, but Chennai certainly has more at stake here so we will be tipping the outsiders. And if you look at Chennai's side, they have plenty of class but they just haven't clicked at times. With Chennai's IPL season just about on the line here, we think big guns MS Dhoni and Muttiah Muralidaran will really step up. On Chennai's home ground, Dhoni will really want to justify his $1.5 million IPL pricetag when his team needs him most. And Muralidaran - who has largely been invisible this tournament with seven wickets at 41 - will know this is his time to shine.

We think it's a good bet and we hope that Jaipur rest as many players as they possibly can! Even if Jaipur only rest one of their big guns, Chennai are terrific value here in a game that they will pull all stops out to win. Get on Chennai for 1.5 units at $2.10 with BetChoice, nzTAB, several UK books or even $2.05 with TAB Sportsbet.

These two teams are traditional rivals in India's domestic competition and there will be no love lost here with this sure to be a spirited affair. Delhi and Mumbai have taken opposite roads to where they are now on the IPL ladder. Delhi (fourth) started on fire but have crashed and burned in the second half of the tournament. Mumbai (fifth) couldn't strike a blow early doors but won six in a row and were only two runs away from seven wins in a row. Even though Delhi are in fourth, a loss here will end their campaign because they have played at least a game more than all their rivals. It is no surprise that Mumbai's leap up the IPL ladder has co-incided with the return of their captain Sachin Tendulkar.

Both of these sides exhibit worrying signs in their middle-order batting. Delhi are hopeless unless one of their openers - Virender Sewhag or Gautum Gambhir - fire up at the top of the order. As for Mumbai, we were delighted to see them go down by one run the other night because we tipped against them. But to be honest they lost the unlosable match because they were headed for an emphatic victory until Tendulkar was dismissed. There were unmistakable signs of panic in Mumbai's middle-order and that is not a good sign.

So, with both sides having shaky batting lineups, it is the bowling attacks that could help decide this one. One man could make the difference here. A bloke called Glenn McGrath. Remember him? He plays for Delhi these days. It is hard to see McGrath allowing Tendulkar and co to run amok too much at the top or the order, so Mumbai's dubious middle-order clould be under pressure again. There is no McGrath in the Mumbai bowling attack to apply similar pressure to Delhi's top-order. We can see this match panning out with Delhi stars Gambhir and Sehwag getting off to a rampaging start against a largely no-name Mumbai attack (apart from Shaun Pollock) while Mumbai's top-order won't have it all their own way against McGrath. Sri Lankan Farveez Maharoof is also a more than handy paceman to apply pressure at the other end for Delhi.

So, to sum up, both teams have similar wonky batting lineups after their undisputed batting stars at the top of the order. Bowling never usually decides 20-20 cricket but we think it will here and Delhi have more aces in that department. And don't forget Delhi will be keen as mustard because they need a win here to keep their IPL dreams alive. Get on Delhi for a 1 unit bet at $2.0 with Sportsbet or nzTAB.