Indian Premier League 2020 Winner Betting Tips – Mumbai Indians to defend IPL title?

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 starts on 29 March 2020 and ends on 24 May 2020. The defending champions, Mumbai Indians, are the joint-favourites to win the competition for a 5th time, along with one-time winnersSunrisers Hyderabad.

The Chennai Super Kings are the only side in IPL history to defend their title (2010 & 2011), so it is going to be a tough ask for the Mumbai Indians to replicate their success of 2019.

Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad are the joint-favourites to win the IPL in 2020. They are both priced at $5.00 to lift the trophy. Odds from bet365 and correct on 23 February 2020:

The Mumbai Indians are the most successful side in IPL history. They have won 4 titles to date – in 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019, but they have struggled to get over the line and defend their title – a feat only the Chennai Super Kings (2010 & 2011) have managed to achieve.

Only once have the Mumbai Indians made the final and not lifted the trophy. In 2019’s final, the Mumbai Indians beat the Chennai Super Kings by 1 run in what was a pulsating match.

The team from Mumbai have an excellent squad at their disposal for the defence of their title. Rohit Sharma will captain the side, while the likes of Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Quinton de Kock, JaspritBumrah, and Lasith Malinga have all been retained for the 2020 IPL.

Their new additions for 2020 include Nathan Coulter-Nile, Trent Boult, and Chris Lynn. Young spin sensation Rahul Chahar is an exciting talent who could well prove the difference in tight matches.

The strength in the Mumbai Indians’ bowling attack will make them very difficult to play against, while the batting line-up has the kind of firepower which T20 sides need to take matches away from the opposition.

This all-round strength could well see them defend their title and extend their hold as the competition’s most successful side.

The 2020 IPL will be the Sunrisers Hyderabad’s 8th campaign, after only coming into existence in 2013. In those 7 seasons, they have won the competition once (2016), made the final in 2018, and qualified for the play-offs in three campaigns (2013, 2017, 2019).

Those impressive results have made them joint-favourites to go all the way in 2020, but one or two squad issues may be their Achille’s heel and see them fall short. In 2019, the Sunrisers Hyderabad lost in the play-off eliminator to the Delhi Capitals by 2 wickets.

While the Sunrisers Hyderabad boast a very impressive batting lineup - Kane Williamson, David Warner (the top scorer in IPL 2019 with 692 runs), Mitchell Marsh, Jonny Bairstow, and Mohammad Nabi all have the quality to put sides to the sword, the bowling department is where they may struggle.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is their main strike bowler and Khaleel Ahmedis a star in the making, but their reliance on journeyman bowlers and batting all-rounders might come back to bite them as the competition progresses.

The play-offs will be a non-negotiable from head coach Trevor Bayliss, but the issues in the bowling department may hamper any designs they have on lifting the IPL trophy.

Should the batsmen fire in every game, who knows how far the Sunrisers Hyderabad could go, but the reality is that form dips in competitions such as this – and that is likely to be the problem for the side from Hyderabad.

The Chennai Super Kings will go into the 2020 Indian Premier League still haunted by the 1-run defeat to the Mumbai Indians in last year’s final. While that result will hang over their head, the side from Chennai are still one of the most successful sides in the history of the competition, making 8 finals and winning the title 3 times.

They have reached the final the most times out of anyone in the 12-year history of the IPL – and that feat is even more impressive when you consider that they were suspended from the competition for two years.

The downside for the Chennai Super Kings this season is that they head into the IPL with a very old squad. Thirteen of their squad are in their 30s, with 7 over the age of 35. While that might not seem terrible when you have a large squad, it is important to consider that many of the key players fall into that age category, including the likes of Imran Tahir (last year’s top IPL wicket-taker with 26), Harbhajan Singh, MS Dhoni, Dwayne Bravo, Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, and Murali Vijay.

On paper, the Chennai Super Kings have a team very capable of reaching the final again, but the age of some of the star players may start to catch up with them, especially as the matches come thick and fast in the IPL.

This is either going to be a fantastic swansong for these players or an utter disaster for the Super Kings. It is unlikely that there will be much middle ground this season – and there is only so much pressure the youngsters like Sam Curran and Lungi Ngidi will be able to handle.

A good run of form from any side in the Indian Premier League could upset the apple cart, and that is what the likes of the Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Kolkata Knight Riders will hope to achieve.

Of these three sides, only the Kolkata Knight Riders are previous champions (2012 and 2014), while the Royal Challengers Bangalore have made 3 finals – losing all of them.

With Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers in their ranks, the Royal Challengers Bangalore might be a decent outside bet to go all the way, but their squad on the whole may struggle to back up the classy batting of the pair.

The Delhi Capitals have added some quality players in the shape of Jason Roy, ShimronHetmyer, Chris Woakes, and Ravichandran Ashwin, but the problem for them lies in consistency, which has let them down year after year. Ironically, they are very consistent at being inconsistent.

The Kolkata Knight Riders have a side for the 2020 IPL which looks a little thin in the batting department, meaning run chases could prove to be their weakness as the competition heats up.