How to Bet on Cricket

1. Setting Your Goals

Whether you're new to cricket betting or not, getting into the right mindset before placing your bets should never be overlooked.

Sure, you could head to a random online sportsbook, place your entire bankroll on a team you know nothing about and win big money, but that isn't sustainable or sensible.

Betting for profit and success requires strategy, ensuring your wins are the product of thorough research and your losses are limited and always learned from. Trust us, our formula for success with online cricket betting will have you making smart decisions in no time, and it all starts with asking yourself three vital questions:

What do I want to achieve?

Being clear on why you're planning to bet on a cricket match is a great start. If you want to turn your bankroll into profit, then you're in the right place. If you're a casual bettor who just wants to have a bit of fun, then maybe you won't follow every step in our cricket betting formula, but the last time we checked, winning money makes betting much more fun.

How much do I want to spend?

Knowing how much you want to spend, and more importantly, how much you can afford to deposit is important to know early on. Remember to only bet with money that you can afford to lose; gambling is for entertainment and you should not depend on the money you make from it. Once you've decided on this amount, write it down and don't impulsively increase it later on. Always remember to gamble responsibly.

What will I do if all my bets lose?

Accepting that losses are part of betting is the best thing you can do at the very start. It's impossible to correctly predict the outcome of every cricket match; many bettors love to make plans with their future winnings, but very few plan for a complete wipeout of their bankroll. This is why only betting with what you can afford to lose is so important because you won't chase your losses. If you lose, take some time to consider why your bets didn't come in and then wait until you're ready and financially able to bet again.

2. Research and Analysis

The best sports bettors in the world wouldn't place a bet without doing their due diligence beforehand, so why would you?

Researching your picks is a key part of any cricket betting strategy and is crucial to becoming truly successful. By looking at a range of criteria including season stats, team form, and even the weather, you're tooling yourself up to predict how the game will pan out. Start broad and then get stuck into the finer details later.

Location, Weather, & Pitch

Once you've chosen your fixture, then begin to research where the match will be played. Most casual bettors will simply look at who has the home advantage and base a prediction on that, but trust us, you can extract so much more vital information from the location of a cricket match.

In cricket, the weather has a huge influence on the match and different conditions make for contrasting styles of games. Getting to grips with this information is key when betting on any cricket match. Here's a breakdown of how the weather can affect the pitch conditions, so you can use it to your advantage.

• Humid, cloudy, and windy conditions make the ball swing more. (green or grassy wickets can also cause swing due to seam movement on the surface).
• Sunny & dry conditions can affect the pitch in three ways:
• The ball spins more on a dusty pitch, as the ball will grip on the surface more.
• Harder pitches also create pace and bounce for the bowler, but the ball will come off the bat quicker. Quality batsmen relish a hard pitch so they can manoeuvre the ball around the field.
• In test cricket, if these conditions persist over a few days, the pitch can become cracked, favouring both fast and spin bowlers.
• Damp or dewy conditions create a slower pitch, which can become soft and sticky at times. This makes it more difficult for the bowler to get their pitch right but is equally less predictable for the batsman. A slower pitch usually makes for a lower-scoring game.

Team Performance

Looking at the recent performance of each team seems obvious enough, but it's knowing how to extract learnings from the stats. There are plenty of resources you can get this information from online, with the official IPL site being the most reliable. We've listed the key stats to analyse when looking at each team's performance going into a match.

Recent form

Overlooking each team's recent form could be the biggest mistake you make. A string of positive results will build confidence and morale, while a few losses can force a team to deviate from their strategy.

Head-to-head results

Look at the historic results between the two teams over the past few years - has one team dominated? In the IPL, the Delhi Capitals have beaten the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the past four meetings, dating back to 2018. That has to be a consideration ahead of their next fixture if you're betting on the outright result.

Result against similar opposition

Many teams have similar styles or at least players with similar skills. Check how one of the teams fared against similar opposition, it could indicate their strengths or weaknesses in the fixture you're following.

Playing styles

Sticking with the theme of styles, look at how a team performs if they're building a lead or chasing a score. The coin toss has a huge influence on the match and can lead to some differences in which live markets you should bet on.

Player Performance

Ultimately, a game of cricket will be decided by the performances of the players on each team. If there is a vast skill difference between the two sides, then looking deeper into how their players perform isn't as important; you'll also get less value when betting on that game. Professional cricket is never as cut and dry as that though, and analysing how certain players might perform will give you a huge edge when making your bets.

The easiest way to look into player performance is to split your research into batsmen and bowlers, as these are the players who will have the biggest impact on the game. Then you can dive deeper to see which batters struggle against a certain type of bowler, and vice versa. Here are some stats to look for:

• Batting averages
• Batting strike rate
• Total boundaries
• Total half-centuries and centuries
• Bowling averages
• Bowling economy
• Bowling strike rate

Building Your Prediction

When building your prediction, always think back to your previous research on the weather, pitch, and team performance. Isolated research will get you so far, but using it all together will give you the edge when betting on cricket online.

Let's look at an example of how you might use each part of your research to form a betting slip:

3. Finding the Perfect Cricket Betting Site or App

There are so many online sportsbooks and cricket betting apps and sites for Indian bettors to choose from. Luckily for you, we're experts in rating, reviewing, and recommending only the very best places to bet on cricket.

Many cricket betting apps or sites will offer very similar features, but the best will excel in areas where others don't. Depending on how you set your goals in chapter one, you'll be able to highlight the features and services which mean the most to you and choose your cricket betting app or site accordingly.

For a full breakdown of the best apps and sites to bet on the IPL and other tournaments, head to our best cricket betting apps page. Although find some features which you can look for as priorities right here, which we also review against in our guide:

• Live Streaming
• Bonuses and Promotions
• Range of Markets
• Customer Service
• Stats and Analysis
• Competitive Odds

4. Placing Your Bets

Your goals are set, the research is complete, and you've signed up at the online sportsbook which is right for you. Along the way, you would have naturally thought ahead to the types of bets you'll be making, especially after marrying up the analysis from your research.

When choosing which bets to place, you'll have to be disciplined to stick to the budget you set at the beginning. The research might suggest putting on more bets than you had planned, so either split your bankroll between them or simply go with the markets which offer the most value.

Understanding Cricket Odds

To find value in your cricket bets, you first need to understand how cricket betting odds work. Simply put, bookmakers set the odds for a cricket game based on the probability of each outcome. For example, if India are playing Ireland in an ODI match, each outcome will have a probability attached to it:

The higher the implied probability, then the less money you can make from that bet. In the above example, India are the heavy favourites, so the odds have been set at 1.43 in decimal form. This means if you staked $10 on India to win, and they did, you'd only receive $1.43 in profit.

The best online cricket betting sites will also offer odds in fractional and American odds, meaning whatever your preference, you can bet with the format you're comfortable with. For a full breakdown of how to read odds, head to our betting odds guide. If you need to convert odds based on probability or odds type, use our renowned odds calculator.

Popular betting markets

Despite 94% of all cricket bets in India placed in-play, it's hugely important to understand which markets you want to bet on before a ball is bowled. Live betting requires you to follow the action, be reactive, and think about the management of your bets (which we cover in our final chapter). So for true beginners, we recommend placing your first bet before the match to help you learn the process, without the added pressure of in-play betting.

To decide which markets to bet on, you should always look at your selected sportsbook; every cricket betting site will offer different bet types or specials. Here is a list of the most popular cricket betting markets to get you up to speed.

Match Winner

Predict which team will win the match. The odds will always be shorter for the favourite.

Top Batsman

Bet on which batsman will score the most runs in a match.

Top Bowler

Bet on which bowler will take the most runs in a match.

Total Runs

The bookmaker will decide a target run total; you decide whether there will be more or fewer runs than this total.

First Ball of the Match

A popular market that allows bettors to place money on the outcome of the first ball.

Player Performance

Most sportsbooks will list all players and you can bet on their bowling and batting performance. This will usually be displayed as an over/under on their wickets and runs.

Race to X Runs

Across both innings, bet on which team will reach a run target the quickest (based on balls faced).

Score After X Over(s)

Some bookmakers will choose a target of five, 10 or 15 overs. You can bet on which team has more runs at that stage in their innings.

Highest Opening Partnership

Bet on which team's opening batting partnership will score more runs.

Method of Next Dismissal

Specifically for in-play bettors, this market allows you to predict how the next wicket will fall.

Next Ball Outcome

This is an incredibly fast-paced market and hard to master, but you can bet on what will happen on a ball-by-ball basis.

Next Over Outcome

The bookmaker will list options for runs, wickets and the outcome of each ball for each over. For example. you could bet there will be two 2 wickets in the next over.

See More Betting Markets

A common misconception is that once you've placed your bet, all you have to do is sit back and wait for the action to play out. That's not the case with our winning formula, the process continues and what you do after placing your bets can help to maximise your profits.

Cash Out

Almost all cricket betting sites will offer a cashout service, meaning you can be paid out for your bet before the match ends. This is a great tool to take advantage of if a bet you've placed is on track to win, but you believe something may swing it the other way. The earlier you cash out, the less you'll be paid out, so it can sometimes be down to holding your nerve. Either way, you'll only be able to cash out if you pay attention to the bets while the action is on.

Watching The Match

Considering the popularity of live betting on cricket in India, we assume most bettors will watch the game they bet on. This is essential for the above cash out technique to be executed perfectly, but also allows you to react to any patterns you may spot during the match. If you haven't used your entire bankroll, betting reactively, but not impulsively, can be hugely beneficial to your eventual profits.

Learning

Aside from managing your finances correctly and sticking to your budget, the next most important thing from this whole process is to learn from it. In your research, you learn about the pitch, teams, and players. Then you learn which sportsbook is the best for you and finally, after placing your bet, you can review the whole process. After every bet, win or lose, make sure you look back at your decisions and try and improve for next time.