How to Bet on Cricket – Cricket Betting Guide & Betting Strategies

As one of the most popular sports in the world, cricket betting has continued to gain popularity with the advent of online sportsbooks and sportsbook apps that have made sports betting easier than ever. 

Cricket betting has a number of mainline bets: match bet, innings runs, player and team totals, and more. Let’s dive into some of these bet options and potential strategies for each.

Reading Cricket Odds

Match Bet

A match bet in cricket is similar to what you’d expect in other sports from a standard moneyline bet; betting on a specific outcome from a limited set of options, namely a win or a draw. 

The American odds style is normally used for these bets, in which the favorite is represented by a minus sign in front (-), and the underdog is represented by a plus sign in front (+).

As an example, if Team A — the favorite — in a cricket match was displayed as -200, you would need to bet $200 to win $100 (on top of the return from your initial bet). On the other side of things, if Team B — the underdog — was displayed as +150, you would have a return of $150 on a $100 bet (in addition to the $100 you placed down). 

Innings Runs

Another popular betting choice is innings runs. Potential bettors can choose to bet the exact number of runs in an inning, or they can instead choose to bet the over or under for a listed run total. 

This can differ in alternate cricket formats, such as T20 in which only two innings are played with each cricket team batting once. However, other formats offer greater inning totals, as there are several innings and teams alternate as batters.

Player/Team Total Cricket Betting

As with many other sports (such as baseball), fans can wager on the total runs scored by a player or the total number of runs scored by one team in a match. Books set the team and player totals, which bettors can wager over or under on.

Because of the variability in cricket scores, there are also options for specific prop bets for both players and teams, in which the player or team needs to reach a specific number of runs. These are less common but are still offered. 

First Ball Cricket Betting

For the more, shall we say, impatient bettors, there are options to bet on the outcome of the first ball. Some online betting sites list cricket odds for specific outcomes of the first ball (a six, four, wicket, etc.) but most simply list over and under run totals for the first ball. This is another particularly popular bet, as it’s fairly immediate in its result. 

Utilizing Live Betting for Cricket

Because of the length of the average cricket game (seven-and-a-half to eight hours), bettors are encouraged to live bet on cricket to an extent that is less common in shorter sports such as basketball, hockey and soccer. 

Not only are the above options of bets available, but changing props and short-term betting opportunities are made available through live betting. 

Whereas many sports can often have heavily shifted odds in favor of whichever team gets out to an early lead, the long, drawn-out nature of cricket means that odds shift less throughout.

Taking Advantage of Prop Betting in Cricket

As with other sports, prop betting in cricket allows bettors to place wagers on events that aren’t directly tied to a final outcome — such as betting on who will score first, which player will score the most runs, who will win the coin toss, etc.

We’ll break down some of these options below.

Top Batsman/Top Bowler

Bettors who are interested in props more than they are final results can choose to bet on top batsman/top bowler props (much like betting on hitters or pitchers in baseball). 

A top batsman bet is generally for the player who scores the most runs, whereas a top bowler bet is on which bowler takes the most wickets in a match.

Most Sixes

Similar to a top batsman prop bet, fans can bet on which player or team will have the most sixes throughout a match.

Coin Toss

A bet that is also highly common in the NFL, cricket allows bettors to wager on which team will win the coin toss of a cricket match — some books even allow potential bettors to bet on which side of the coin will win

Man of the Match/Player of the Series

In cricket, an individual player can be named the “Man of the Match” or “Player of the Series.” Of course, this too can be bet on, with potential bettors able to wager on this prop ahead of a match or series. 

Much like betting on the MVP in a sports league, these bets tend to be most available from the larger books and for only the most popular and highly-rated players. 

Cricket Betting Strategies 

While cricket hasn’t fully broken through to the United States yet, it’s currently one of the most popular sports in the world, and the betting opportunities are numerous and diverse

Much like with all other sports betting, the key to succeeding in cricket betting is finding overvalued or undervalued lines within a market, and taking advantage accordingly. With OddsJam, cricket betting is made simpler than ever, as their positive EV bets will help ensure the best possibility of being profitable.