During the biggest cricketing carnival, which starts on Saturday in Cape Town, South Africa, a whopping Rs 25,000 crore will be bet on 59 matches spread over 39 days translating into betting money of Rs 420 crore per match and Rs 1.8 crore per ball.
Welcome to Season two of the Indian Premier League where cricket and betting on cricket are in the same league as far as hogging the limelight is concerned.
Like the game of 20-20 cricket which has wild swings every ball, the betting rates for teams in IPL are also changing quite fast.
Champions of the inaugural IPL tournament Rajasthan Royals was third in line to win the second edition but losing a practice match has seen them slump to fifth place.
Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings tops the list with a promise of returning Rs 4300 for every Rs 1000 backing them. Delhi Daredevils is placed second at 1:4.70.
On number three is Mumbai Indians who are being quoted at 5.10. Punters have placed a rate of 5.80 on Vijay Mallya owned Bangalore Royal Challengers whereas for Kings Eleven Punjab and Rajasthan Royals, the betting rate is 8. Kolkata Knight Riders and Deccan Chargers bring up the rear with 8.25 and 11 respectively.
The team which spent the least Rajasthan Royals came up trumps beating out fancied opponents who handed out million dollar paychecks.
It will be interesting to see whether IPL 2.0 see another dark horse win the laurels or will the predictions of bookies come true.