An Overview of Cricket Odds to Help You Place Your Bets

If you have started using a cricket betting app recently, it is important for you to know odds work in this arena. In case you have already gone through different pages of the app, you must have noticed that odds are listed out for various matches of the day. Depending on the platform you are using, these odds can be in decimals (most commonly) or in fractions. But what do these odds mean? How do they impact your decision to place a bet? Read on to find out all the answers to your questions. 

Understanding the basics of live cricket odds 

The matches that are played for limited-overs, such as T20 or IPL, are just head-to-head contests. However, there is a chance of having a tie in the test matches. Now, cricket odds are the simple numerical ways to predict the result depending on the bets that have been placed in the market already. As such, live cricket odds are simply about predicting the odds while the match is playing on the screen. 

You can go for low odds if you bet against the general prediction in the market. If you are right in this case, you stand a chance to win big and take home a major prize. In simple words, odds determine the amount of money a person can lose or win in each bet they make. Their new bets are placed on the odds. Let’s explain this with an example. 

A simple example of odds in a cricket betting app 

Suppose your chosen app is showing the odds for the exciting match between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK). The odds are listed as 50-55. It means that the odds placed on MI is 50 and CSK is 55. 

If you place a bet of INR 100 on MI to win the match, you will take home a total amount of INR 150 if MI wins. If MI loses, you lose the entire INR 100 that you had put up as a bet. Consider the same situation if CSK wins and you bet INR 100 on them. 

You can also use these odds to bet on the losing team. For instance, you can bet INR 100 on the prospects of MI losing the match. If the team really loses, you will take home INR 155. But if MI ends up winning the match, you will only lose the INR 55, which refers to the odds of CSK winning the game. 

Reading different kinds of odds in cricket 

Sportsbooks tend to list out odds in three different ways. Now, many of the books let you choose how these odds get listed, which you will need to select depending on your ease of understanding. Though decimal odds are usually the easiest to read, you might be more comfortable with the other two types. 

American odds 

These odds are listed in whole numbers and have a positive or negative sign right in front of them. For example, team C has +120 and team D has –140.  

The plus sign indicates that the team happens to be an underdog, which means you will have to bet INR 100 for winning the amount. In this case, you will have to bet INR 100 to win INR 120. Negative sign indicates the exact opposite of this condition. 

Fractional odds 

Fractional odds are mostly used in the UK, and these are written in the form of fractions. For instance, a fractional odd looks like 1.5/1, which means you will have to bet INR 100 to win INR 150. 

Decimal odds 

Decimal odds simply refer to the probabilities that are written as percentages. You will have to consider 100% and get that divided by the possibility of the outcome. For instance, consider the outcome to be 50%. So, take it 100% / 50%, which comes up as 2.0. 

Let’s explain it further with an example. Consider the probability to win as 65%, which means the math comes up as 100/65, i.e., 1.54. so, each unit bet by you will help you earn 1.54 units, going by the example mentioned above. 

Hopefully, you have a clear idea about cricket odds now. Go ahead and start betting to get an even better understanding.