IPL outright predictions: Rajasthan to end long trophy drought
Recommended bets:
- Rajasthan Royals to win
- Lucknow Super Giants to win
- Yashasvi Jaiswal Top Tournament Batter
The Indian Premier League is preparing for its 17th season this year and the excitement is building for the latest instalment of one of the world's most popular franchise cricket leagues.
Chennai Super Kings claimed the spoils last year, moving level on five titles with Mumbai Indians in the all-time records, and those two sides are both 5/1 with LiveScore Bet to go all the way in 2024.
Gujarat Titans, who narrowly missed out on winning back-to-back trophies last year after losing in the final, are next in the betting at 11/2, just ahead of 15/2 Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Royals in contention for second title
Rajasthan won the inaugural IPL back in 2008, beating Chennai by three wickets at DY Patil Stadium, but it has been slim pickings for them since and they have returned to the final just once.
That second final appearance came in 2022, when they were swept aside by Gujarat, but the Royals look to have built a squad capable of ending the franchise's long trophy drought.
In the batting department, England's Jos Buttler leads the way and he will be eager to clinch his second Orange Cap, the award for the top runs scorer, having won this in 2022.
Talented Indian Yashasvi Jaiswal, Somerset's Tom Kohler-Cadmore and the West Indies duo of Shimron Hetmyer and Rovman Powell also add significant strength with the bat.
As for the bowling, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal and Adam Zampa bring plenty of quality and experience to the ranks and the balance of the squad looks good.
The Luck could be in for the Super Giants
Should Rajasthan fail to lift the trophy, then it could be the Lucknow Super Giants that beat them to the punch. Formed in 2021, the team have finished third in both of their IPL campaigns, losing out in the Eliminator on each occasion.
It feels like head coach Justin Langer's side are not far away from taking the next step forward and they will be captained by KL Rahul, who won the Orange Cap in 2020 and hit the most sixes in the 2021 edition.
Quinton de Kock and Marcus Stoinis bring further strength to the batting department, these two players are household names in limited-overs cricket, while West Indies Nicholas Pooran also adds to the options.
The bowling line-up is weaker than the batting, on paper, but a solid effort with ball in hand could see them put in another serious challenge for glory.
Indian to continue upward trajectory
In the top tournament batter market, Yashasvi Jaiswal is hard to ignore at 9/1 with LiveScore Bet and he heads into the IPL on the back of a sublime Test series against England.
The 22-year-old scored 712 runs across the series, including two double centuries, while he also hit 12 sixes in one of those innings to equal Wasim Akram's world record of the most sixes in a Test innings.
Jaiswal is also a dab hand when it comes to limited-overs cricket, hitting 502 runs across his 17 T20 innings for his country and he is capable of taking home the Orange Cap.
