Quick win from the fast thrower?

What do you associate with Christmas? Presents, biscuits and time with the family? Or bawling fans, party atmosphere and top sport? This second answer will probably be given by the darts fans around the world who are eagerly awaiting the start of the World Championship.

On Wednesday the time has finally come again and the first darts will fly through Alexandra Palace. Thanks to 3G rule, a full house is possible and the fans will make the event what it is known for.

Defending champion Gerwyn Price traditionally competes straight away on the first night. But his opponent is yet to be determined in the opening match between Richie Edhouse and Lihao Wen. We therefore took a closer look at the Ricky Evans vs. Nitin Kumar forecast and give a betting recommendation.

The local hero from England, who is also a regular on the tour, is clearly the favourite with the best bookmakers.

Thus, it is only logical that the odds are very clearly distributed between Ricky Evans and Nitin Kumar and even a set win of the underdog could more than double the stake. The two players will step onto the oche at around 21:00 hrs.

Ricky Evans – Statistics & current form

“Rapid” is the nickname of Ricky Ian Evans and it is more than justified with him. He is known as the fastest thrower on the tour, which is why matches involving him are often extremely spectacular. From a purely sporting point of view, however, the Briton has had to cope with two rather disappointing years. With the onset of the pandemic, the great talent was no longer able to repeat his earlier successes.

Evans wants to hit the reset button at the World Cup

He has a 2018 Players Championship Finals round of 16 to his name, as well as a quarter-final appearance at the 2019 European Championships. He has reached two Pro Tour finals, and has won once on the Development Tour and once on the Challenge Tour. The rapid ascent after the change from the BDO to the PDC was not easy to cope with for the right-hander from Kettering and he will be glad that the headlines around his person have died down a little bit.

His last appearance before the World Championship Evans had in the Players Championship Finals against James Wade when he disappointed badly. At 1:6 he played an average of 77.56 points, which is clearly below his normal level. Now the question is whether he has managed to raise his level significantly in the preparation.

Otherwise, between Ricky Evans and Nitin Kumar, the prediction has to be made that the favourite will have problems. The bottom line, however, is that it is up to the 40th ranked player in the world to make it into the second round and then challenge Daryl Gurney on Thursday.

Last matches of Ricky Evans:

Players Championship Finals
11/26 2021 – James Wade 6 – 1 Ricky Evans

Players Championship 30
11/04 2021 – Luke Humphries 6 – 2 Ricky Evans

11/04 2021 – Ricky Evans 6 – 5 Ted Evetts

Players Championship 29
11/03 2021 – Ryan Searle 6 – 0 Ricky Evans

11/03 2021 – Steve Brown 4 – 6 Ricky Evans

Nitin Kumar – Statistics & current form

Nitin Kumar is the most famous darts player in his home country India and could also win the Indian World Champions in 2019 already once. Further successes in the BDO were for example in the Asia-Pacific Cup. On the international stage the 36-year-old is still an unknown quantity. He already took part twice in the World Cup for his home country and twice in the main draw of the PDC World Championship.

First set win in third attempt?

The results were very clear though. In doubles, he failed twice with 0:5 – including once against the German duo Artut/Hopp. In singles, too, there have been two clear 0:3 defeats so far and Kumar is still waiting for his first set win at the Ally Pally. It remains to be seen whether his new nickname “The Royal Bengal” will lead to new successes. So far “The Animal” has not been able to win much in London.

With 18 grams his darts are relatively very light and he also competes in the E Darts scene again and again. After Kumar’s nervousness was clearly noticeable in his first World Championship appearance in 2018 against Jeffrey de Zwaan and his average (77.75) left a lot to be desired, the second match was already much better. In 2019, the 36-year-old managed an average of just over 90 points against Brandan Dolan. The 0:3 was rather due to the strong performance of the history maker.

With a similar performance, the first set win should finally be possible for the big underdog this Wednesday. Whether a bet on a surprise win for the Asian between Richie Evans and Nitin Kumar really makes sense is questionable. However, the underdog could at least secure a run.

Last matches of Nitin Kumar:

World Darts Championship
12/15 2019 – Brendan Dolan 3 – 0 Nitin Kumar

12/13 2018 – Jeffrey de Zwaan 3 – 0 Nitin Kumar

Ricky Evans – Nitin Kumar Direct comparison / H2H record

The direct comparison doesn’t help to find out good odds between Ricky Evans and Nitin Kumar for the match on the first day of the World Cup. The two players are meeting for the very first time ever, which is not particularly surprising. While Evans has been a fixture on the PDC Tour for years, Kumar is almost exclusively on the road in his home country.

Ricky Evans – Nitin Kumar Tip

The winner of this match will be rewarded directly on Thursday with the next appearance at Alexandra Palace and there a real top star is waiting with Dary Gurney. Who will secure the ticket for this match is largely up to Englishman Ricky Evans.

He is rightly favoured in the odds comparison of the betting basis and has the clearly greater experience and also higher playing quality. However, he has often weakened in recent weeks and months and an average of less than 80.0, as was the case at the Players Championship Finals, could also cause him problems against the big underdog from the Asian region.

Nitin Kumar, on the other hand, is hoping to finally win his first set in his third World Championship appearance. After the two clear defeats against de Zwaan and Dolan, he has a better chance this time to at least win a set. Should this be the case, between Ricky Evan and Nitin Kumar the odds are best for a bet on a 3:1 for the Brit. A stake of five units can be placed on it.