How to bet on cricket in-play

Have you ever tried in-play betting on cricket? If you haven’t, you might assume it’s just a vice for spontaneous gamblers; the types of fans who bet on a whim, using their hearts more than their heads. While this might be true of some fans, in-play bets can also be used to open up new betting opportunities.

In-play cricket betting covers plenty of markets. This includes session runs, win index and fall of the next wicket. As you can imagine, cricket odds fluctuate quite a lot throughout the game. You have to act at just the right time if you want to secure the best odds.  However, you’ll enjoy the added advantage of watching the action unfold before your eyes.

Use your insight as a fan of cricket to spot things which might impact the game. Perhaps a respected poster that you follow on a cricket forum has heard news that Virat Kohli took a knock in training, and you’ve noticed he doesn’t look 100% on the field. Or maybe the local weather forecaster advised freak rain will hit Bangalore in the next few days and you can see the sky is getting darker. Adding up these nuggets of information can help you get an edge with in-play bets.

Lay your bets for easy profit

Coupling pre-match bets with in-play cricket odds can help you pocket profit before the game concludes. For example, let’s assume India are playing Australia in a one-day cricket international. You make India strong favourites and are expecting them to be long odds-on when the market opens.

Sure enough, India are favourites, but they are available at 1.90. This should be viewed as ‘value’ because you were expecting them to be much shorter.

By betting early – i.e. several hours or even days before the match begins – you can secure the good price. If thousands of other cricket bettors also think India are too big at 1.90 and start backing them, the bookmaker will be forced to shorten the price. Because there’s often a flurry of bets as the match begins, the in-play odds will often look much different to the earliest price.

In our example, let’s say India have shortened to 1.60 just as the match begins. This implies a probability of India winning now at 62.5%, up nearly 10% from the original quote (1.9 = 52.6%). In plain terms, you have got a bigger price than what the market now predicts.

This is an ideal opportunity for you to lay your bet and guarantee yourself profit without the formality of hoping the match goes your way. In-play margins like this make an incredible impact on a gambler’s long-term profitability.

Cash out in-play

Even if you don’t place a pre-match bet, you’ll often have a chance to cash out your bets in-play to make profit. At most of the top online betting firms, you’ll have a chance to cash out from the moment you place a bet. They won’t be at true odds, though. For example, let’s say you place 10 units on India to beat Sri Lanka. The immediate cash out value should be 10 units – but it will more likely be closer to eight or nine units. Basically, your cash out odds will often be slightly lower than what they should be.

That doesn’t mean you should avoid cashing out, though. Sure, hitting the cash out button a little early might mean you shortchange yourself. But, if you refuse to cash out, you could miss out on profit altogether. In some cases, you can withdraw your stake and keep the remainder on as a bet. This means you can be 100% sure you won’t make a loss, without giving up the entire bet.