Besides ardent cricket fans of the two nations, a whole lot of bookies will be keenly watching when arch-rivals Pakistan and India meet for the first World Cup semi-final on Wednesday.
According to top Mumbai bookies, the satta bazaar or illegal betting turnover is expected to hit approximately 50 billion Indian rupees ($1.1 billion) – an all-time high for a single cricket match. The betting rates, which opened in Dubai on Saturday, included all kinds of permutations and combinations.
Bets will be accepted on ‘lambi pari’ and ‘first session’. Betting on lambi pari means predicting how many runs will be scored in the first 50 overs, whereas first session implies the number of runs that will be scored in the first 15 overs.
Since India’s bowling attack is weak, punters believe that Pakistan could score between 310 and 320 runs if they bat first. India is expected to put up a score of 280 to 290 runs if they bat first. These are even bets and gains will be one rupee on every one rupee bet.
Apart from the big players in the Middle East, bets are being accepted from Pakistanis and people from other neighbouring countries. Bets are also being accepted on which team is likely to reach the finals. The international centre for betting is Dubai while the main centre is Mumbai and two main websites betfair.com and betdhu.com are accepting bets.
Most of those betting in Mumbai believe that India will win the match. The odds for India are at 60 Indian paisas (approximately PKR1.15). For Pakistan, they are at INR1.55 (approximately PKR3). The lower the odds, the higher are the chances of a team winning.
Then, there are bets at 8.55 rupees that Indian opener Sachin Tendulkar will complete his 100 centuries. Similarly, a ton by Virender Sehwag or Yuvraj Singh is going at Rs9.98 and Rs11.4 respectively.
“Clearly, India is a favourite among punters after its decisive win over defending champions Australia,” an Indian bookie said by phone from Dubai. “The [Pakistan-India semi-final] match could see one of the highest turnovers in the betting market because punters are eagerly placing bets and the match is being played in India.”
He said that the turnover for the India-Australia match had crossed Rs47.5 billion. “Even the turnover for the final match of the Indian Premier League’s last season didn’t exceed that amount. It was Rs5.7 billion,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 27th, 2011.
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