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India top bookies' chart in Lahore Test
Among batsmen, punters predict success for Dravid and Dhoni but are shying away from Sachin and Ganguly.
Bookies here are predicting a win for India in the first of the three India-Pakistan Tests beginning in Lahore on Friday but disappointment for Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.
The bookies have collected bets worth a whopping Rs 560 million ($12.72 million) for the clash between the subcontinent's long-standing rivals.
"We have collected Rs 560 million for the Lahore match. The amount is likely to cross Rs 700 million by the time the match starts," said Raja, a top punter from Raipur's Sadar Bazaar betting market.
"The betting money has come from 22 centres of Maharashtra's Vidarbha region, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Chhattisgarh," Raja said.
Raja along with 12 other associates is believed to be controlling central India's cricket betting market.
He said the satta or betting market has billed India as favourites for the first Test despite the visiting team having a poor track record at Lahore.
Among Indian batsmen, punters predict success for Indian captain Rahul Dravid and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni but are shying away from Tendulkar and Ganguly.
Raja's associate Asim Bhai said: "We have promised to offer four times higher amount on actual bet for Rahul and Sachin, three times higher amount for Dhoni and double amount for Virendra Sehwag and VVS Laxman in both innings.
"Market has shown good response for Dravid and Dhoni but people are reluctant about Sachin."
He added that betters are not keen on Ganguly and opener Gautam Gambhir, for whose success only a 60 per cent higher amount is promised.
Raja and Asim said that bookies would lose 80 percent of their amounts if Dravid and Dhoni failed to hit half-centuries in any of the innings or if Sachin or Ganguly hit a ton.
The market is also betting on half-centuries from Yunus Khan, Mohammad Yusuf and captain Inzamam-ul-Haq among Pakistani players but predicts failure for speedster Shoaib Akhtar, popularly known as the 'Rawalpindi Express'.
Raja said Raipur had emerged as a leading betting centre in the past two years, and Mumbai-based "big bulls" (punters) controlled central India's betting market through Dubai-based gamblers.
The police busted a global betting racket in Raipur with the arrest of three punters ahead of the India-Pakistan Test at Mohali in 2005.
The market, however, is back in business - and with a bang.
