The Indian Premier League is back to single matches on Monday when the Lucknow Super Giants look to hit the top in the IPL 2023 table when they play host to the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Lucknow.
Lucknow head into the match in second place in the table, leading a number of teams on 10 points on net run rate. A Bangalore win here would see them join the logjam on five wins and would make things very interesting.
Lucknow Super Giants
The Lucknow Super Giants should be full of confidence going into this match. They have just bashed 250 in their last match and while the wicket might have been a gorgeous one for batting in that match you still need to score the runs on it and they did. I mentioned going into that game that their top six can be as scary as anything in the competition and we certainly saw that. That was their fifth win in eight matches and another here would have them top of the league.
What I like about this Lucknow side, and I have mentioned it before, is that they have a depth to their bowling. You can score all the runs you want but bowlers still win T20 matches and for them to have the depth that they have which means that they can select for the conditions they are about to encounter it is very important. They also have a good mix between batters who get on with it and ones who can anchor an innings when necessary.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
It has been a bit of an inconsistent season for the Royal Challengers Bangalore so far. They have four wins and four defeats to their name thus far and that is largely par for the course for them purely because the Chinnaswamy is so difficult to defend so if they end up on the wrong side of the toss they are behind the game before they start. It might not be a bad thing that they begin five straight road games here, although clearly the travelling and living out of suitcases will take its toll so they could do with getting this run off to a positive start.
The big concern that I have when it comes to the Royal Challengers is not nearly enough of their batting cogs are in the sort of form needed to be successful. I’m far from convinced by their bowlers also, although some slack must be given to them considering that their home matches are played on an absolute road with tiny boundaries. Bangalore could do with a convincing performance from someone not named Virat Kohli or Glenn Maxwell.
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Key Players
Kyle Mayers is just so free flowing at the top of the innings that if he gets going the Lucknow Super Giants don’t just have a platform to explode from but they are already ahead of the game because of the speed he scores at.
Virat Kohli is showing some of his best form in this tournament and the Royal Challengers Bangalore might need his best, particularly if the pitch doesn’t allow for clean stroke play and big hitting which a number of their players need.
Betting
The wicket in Lucknow has been a little tricky to predict this season and has played on the low and slow side so that makes betting on this match a little trickier than I would want. I would expect Lucknow to win the match because for me they are the better team and the options they have available to them are deeper and more players are in form but they do get involved in some crazy high scoring matches which puts me off a little.
One bet that I do like in this match though is the performance of Glenn Maxwell, which a line of 29.5 could be incredibly low for. I say that form a number of reasons. He has already hit 59 in no time against this Lucknow side this season and while that was on a flat pitch in Bangalore, he is as good a hitter of spin as there is. His own off spin could well come to the party here too. Lucknow could have four lefties in their top seven if Quinton de Kock plays here and so the off spin going away to them could be used here, especially as Shahbaz Ahmed has gone the distance in this tournament, going at 14.25 an over. Throw in that Maxwell will field where the hot zones are and this line looks very low.
Tips
Back G.Maxwell’s Performance – Over 29.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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