New Delhi: The Twenty20 cricket World Cup final between India and Pakistan in Johannesburg is making bookies work overtime with bets of more than Rs 1,000 crore being put on the fortune of the two archrivals.
Punters are, however, having a tough time putting their bets as the two sides are evenly matched on most of the parameters such as winning, highest score, best bowling and batting figures, biggest opening partnerships and the most number of sixes by a player.
For instance, online betting site readabet.com puts India's odds of winning at 91 out of 100, while that of Pakistan are 21 out of 20, tilting the balance slightly toward the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side.
Similarly, according to paddypower.com, Yuvraj Singh has an odd of 5:4, while Shahid Afridi has chances of 7:4 to hit the most number of sixes in the match.
Interestingly, Pakistan's highest scorer Misbah-ul-Haq is not expected to score heavily in the final with the odds at 15:2, while Yuvraj is expected to have another good match with odds at 4:1, according to the website paddypower.com.
According to unconfirmed estimates, more than Rs 1,000 crore is riding on the match with bets pouring in at many cities, including Mumbai, Nagpur, Raipur, Karachi and Lahore.
India and Pakistan, both of which crashed out in the first round of the ODI World Cup in West Indies, were not among favourites in this tournament but have surprised many by reaching the finals. The betting syndicate is cashing in on this tournament after the lull in the last few months.
Meanwhile, the police have cracked down on bookies and punters as betting is illegal in India. On Saturday, police arrested 27 people in Mumbai in this connection.
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