It is knockout cricket from here on in as far as the Indian Premier League is concerned and that starts on Friday when the Sunrisers Hyderabad takes on the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Eliminator leg of the play-offs.
This match pits the teams that finished third and fourth against each other and the winners of the contest know they will progress to take on the Delhi Capitals for a place in the final on Sunday afternoon. The losers go home for the year.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
The form team going into the play-offs are the Sunrisers Hyderabad. While it is good to have positive vibes behind them, they will know that what has gone before largely counts for nothing and from here on in it is the team who plays the best cricket on the day that will progress. The Sunrisers have been the course and distance in this tournament though and interestingly when they won their title in 2016 they did so from third in the table. They know how to run the table.
The big thing for the Sunrisers has been the improvement in their batting. Bringing Wriddhiman Saha into the side has helped them no end as it has meant that they can field a world class overseas batsman in the middle order and a top notch all-rounder which has not only added depth and confidence to a batting line up that was far too heavily reliant on their opening pair, but has also brought a different outlook to the bowling.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
While the Sunrisers Hyderabad have been in great form, the opposite can be said of the Royal Challengers Bangalore. They have lost their last four matches and you would have to say they haven’t really been competitive in any of them. Injuries are beginning to take their toll but the form of some key players has dipped and it has hurt them badly. How much their poor finish to the season was down to them largely being guaranteed a play-off spot remains to be seen but it can’t be that good.
Although this has been a much better season for the Royal Challengers to date, there are shades of the same issues beginning to hamper them, notably they are too reliant on two batsmen, neither of whom are probably batting in the right position, and their death bowling is starting to unravel again. If dew is around to take the impact off their spinners then you wonder just how Bangalore can win matches at this stage of the event.
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Previous Meetings
Matches between these two this season have been quite dramatic. Sunrisers looked to be cruising to a victory in the first of their two meetings but then suffered a horrendous collapse in the second half of their innings and fell to a horrible defeat. The second match was dominated by the Sunrisers and that was only a week ago. They restricted Bangalore to 120 and had no problems chasing it down so the recent past probably points to the Sunrisers.
Betting
I’m reluctant to get involved in the match betting at this stage of a season because the dew factor is so pivotal but we saw a team defend a score in Dubai on Thursday and that makes me think that there is scope for betting on who will win here. Given that, I’m happy to be on the Sunrisers Hyderabad. There is no doubt that they are the form team and the one who will be carrying all the confidence into this match with them.
It isn’t just the confidence levels that attract me to the Sunrisers, Bangalore are beginning to suffer from a few injuries and there is a feeling that there is nothing they can do to extend their batting line up enough to take the pressure off the big two. With doubts over Chris Morris’ fitness it is hard to be too buoyant about the Royal Challengers’ chances here. Sunrisers have plenty of bowling options and all of a sudden so many more of their batting line up look in good touch. They can extend their season with a win here.
Tips
WON – Back Sunrisers Hyderabad to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Coral
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