After 70 matches, hundreds of hours, and thousands of balls, it all comes down to this. The Indian Premier League Season 16 has concluded its round-robin play, and now it’s time for finals cricket. What started a little over six weeks ago with 10 teams has now seen the best four rise to the top — the Gujarat Titans, Chennai Super Kings, Lucknow Super Giants, and Mumbai Indians.
These four teams will battle it out to determine who raises the IPL 2023 trophy on Sunday. A lot of questions remain to be answered over the coming days. Can Gujarat become only the third team to win back-to-back IPL titles? Or will the experience of Mumbai and Chennai begin to shine under the pressure of sudden-death cricket? Can Lucknow rewrite the script on what was a disappointing playoff debut in 2022?
With only four matches remaining, until we know who the IPL 2023 champion is, we break down all the cricket IPL-16 playoffs odds and deliver the best IPL 2023 playoffs predictions available.
| ℹ️ Tournament: | The TATA Indian Premier League 2023, 16th edition of T20 cricket, Playoffs |
| 🏟️ Venues: | MA Chidambaram Stadium (Chennai) and Narendra Modi Stadium (Ahmedabad), India |
| 🗓️ Dates: | Tuesday 23 May to Sunday 28 May |
To set the scene for our analysis, first, let us dive into the 2023 IPL outright winner odds. Looking at the latest odds from the best bookies for cricket, here’s how the betting favorites stand:
Despite the Chennai Super Kings not finishing top of the table, the four-time IPL champions are sitting top of the betting odds. With odds of 2.50 (3/2), Chennai narrowly lead Gujarat, who are on 2.62 (13/8). From here, the odds understandably drop off to the two lower-ranked teams, with the Mumbai Indians a moderate favorite at 5.50 (9/2) and the Lucknow Super Giants a real long shot at 9.00 (8/1).
Many sportsIn-play modeLive streaming25+ sportsSuperb bonusesEasy to useVIP programLive gamesMany bonusesMany bonuses24/7 supportMobile appsLive bettingMany sportsFast payoutsThis has been a season of IPL cricket to remember. From final ball finishes to rapid-fire centuries and the discovery of new local stars, the world’s biggest T20 league has yet again delivered an absolute spectacle of entertainment. Here’s how the final standings look now that the dust has settled on the regular season:
| Team | Win | Loss | No Result | NRR | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gujarat Titans | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0.809 | 20 |
| Chennai Super Kings | 8 | 5 | 1 | 0.652 | 17 |
| Lucknow Super Giants | 8 | 5 | 1 | 0.284 | 17 |
| Mumbai Indians | 8 | 6 | 0 | -0.044 | 16 |
| Rajasthan Royals | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0.148 | 14 |
| Royal Challengers Bangalore | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0.135 | 14 |
| Kolkata Knight Riders | 6 | 8 | 0 | -0.239 | 12 |
| Punjab Kings | 6 | 8 | 0 | -0.304 | 12 |
| Delhi Capitals | 5 | 9 | 0 | -0.808 | 10 |
| Sunrisers Hyderabad | 4 | 10 | 0 | -0.590 | 8 |
Despite the Rajasthan Royals starting the IPL 2023 so strongly and the Royal Challengers Bangalore sprinting toward the finish line at full pace, neither of these sides will feature in the postseason. Instead, here’s a quick look at each of the four finalists, with two of them right from our IPL 2023 predictions text, came through this season and how they got here:
Last year’s champions were the pre-season betting favorites heading into the IPL 2023, and they sure lived up to the hype. If any team has been the rock-solid team to beat this season, it’s been Gujarat. Perched well above the rest of the pack on 20 points, GT have been a picture of consistency, never losing back-to-back games across the season. With Shubman Gill scoring big runs and Mohammed Shami and Rashid Khan taking ample wickets, the defending champions have been the form team of the IPL 2023.
After having a shocking 2022 season where CSK only won four games, it seems the Chennai of old are back. Despite a brief wobble, Chennai have been the steady second to GT all season and have always looked like they’d secure a top-two finish. Kiwi Devon Conway has been an excellent edition scoring plenty of fast runs at the top, while local bowler Tushar Deshpande has exceeded expectations with his 20 wickets.
While LSG may have qualified third in the playoffs, there’s a reason why they’re the outside favorites to win this year. Simply put, they’ve been wildly inconsistent. This is epitomized by their matches against the Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore. One day, they score 257 runs, the next, they get bowled out for 108. At times LSG have looked like world beaters, while at others, they’ve looked like school kids. Hard to know which team will turn up this week.
After a woeful start that saw the Mumbai Indians lingering towards the bottom of the table in the early stages of the IPL 2023, MI surged to the playoffs. Indian international Suryakumar Yadav has found great form, as has expensive import Cameron Green. Their captain Rohit Sharma has had a very poor season by his standards, and yet somehow, they’ve managed to score 200+ runs on six separate occasions.
As the image above outlines, the IPL 16 playoffs format is straightforward. The layout benefits those who qualify higher, giving the top two teams a second chance at qualifying for the final should they lose in their opening match. Those who finish third and fourth, however, must be on their game immediately, as they’ll face three sudden-death matches in a row if they’re to win the title.
What better way to make this week’s playoffs even more exciting than by making a bet on IPL 2023 online? Our experts have pooled their collective knowledge and determined the best IPL 16 betting tips possible for your IPL betting online. Below are our top three Indian Premier League predictions 2023:
They’re back, and we say they’ll go all the way this year. Chennai left their poor season last year well and truly behind them in 2023 and look very much like champion material. However, there are several big factors that sway this playoffs week in Chennai’s favor.
Firstly, they have a home advantage in the Qualifier 1 Final against GT. This is massive, considering how tailored CSK’s bowling lineup is towards spin and how much the MA Chidambaram Stadium favors spin bowlers. This, plus the home crowd, should see CSK home against GT in the opening match.
Secondly, there’s a good chance that this is MS Dhoni’s last IPL season. The team will be ultra-motivated to give Dhoni the send-off he deserves, while Dhoni will be laser-focused on going out with a bang. Expect this Chennai side to simply want it more than the others.
We’ve already said that we expect CSK to move past GT in the Qualifier 1 Final. However, our big IPL 2023 playoffs prediction is that Mumbai will continue their late momentum and surge all the way to the final this week.
First up, MI have a match against LSG. While LSG beat Mumbai in their match earlier in the season, playoffs cricket is a different story. Mumbai have been here time and time again, winning the IPL five times. This kind of experience is invaluable when it comes to pressure cricket. Lucknow, on the other hand, have only made it to the playoffs once, where they had a disappointing loss. Add in the fact that MI have scored 200+ in six of their past nine games, and the reality is that Mumbai should have too much muscle in their batting lineup for LSG.
This means that MI and GT will likely meet in the Qualifier 2 Final, where we predict Mumbai will upset Gujarat. Call it a gut feeling, but there’s something about Mumbai’s momentum and the allure of a CSK vs. MI final that makes us think MI will pull off an upset in this match, knocking out top-seed GT.
Mumbai Indian’s captain Rohit Sharma has had a poor IPL by his standards, scoring only 313 runs. He’s only made 50 on two occasions and has an average of 22.36.
And yet, cometh the hour, cometh the man. We say a big part of MI continuing to win through this playoffs week will be Rohit Sharma stepping up to the plate and finding some form in the nick of time. There are signs of Sharma turning a corner already – he’s scored 56 and 37 in his past two innings, both at healthy strike rates. With a return of 4.33 (10/3), expect one of the world’s best batters to turn it on when it really counts.
It’s finals time in the IPL 16, and we’ve got all the best bets for you based on the latest odds. While Gujarat have been the team to beat this year, we say that old-hands CSK and MI will be the ones who rise to the challenge of playoff cricket. Expect it to be a CSK vs. MI final, with the Yellove Army bringing home their fifth IPL trophy on Sunday in honor of their beloved MS Dhoni.
