The International League T20 competition continues on Friday when the ILT20 heads back to Abu Dhabi for the clash between the Desert Vipers and the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, two sides who have started the season in different ways.
The Vipers have only played a couple of matches so far this term but they have won them both whereas the Knight Riders have played three and lost the lot and one more loss here could really pile the pressure on them.
Desert Vipers
The Desert Vipers haven’t just won their opening two matches, they have won them with a great to spare. They chased a target down with 20 balls left in their first game and then went six balls better in their second one. The two teams they have beaten are both winless in the competition, including the Knight Riders in the reverse match, so you could argue as to what they have beaten but they have won emphatically and ruthlessly.
We thought it might take the Vipers a bit of time to get into this tournament while they waited for some key Sri Lankan players to arrive but they are here now and the Vipers look better for it. The one early concern this season is how they will fare when they have to post a score rather than chase one down but when you have Wanindu Hasaranga and seamers adept at taking the pace off the ball such as Benny Howell and Tom Curran you sense that won’t be an issue.
Abu Dhabi Knight Riders
The general consensus heading into the tournament was that the three IPL owned sides would be the ones to beat but that idea clearly never made its way to the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders as they haven’t even looked like winning a match to date let alone actually done so. The Knight Riders lost their first match by 73 runs and then their second and third matches with 34 balls to spare and 26 balls remaining. They have been blown out three times.
That will be a concern because a side that has the likes of Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Akeal Hosein and Colin Ingram in their ranks should be going so much better than that but the West Indian trio haven’t got going and in turn Abu Dhabi haven’t either. You sense this is a team that needs a brutal blitz from either Sunil Narine or Andre Russell to get over the line but what I’d like to see is a complete batting effort to give everyone confidence moving forward.
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Key Players
The Kolkata Knight Riders was once the franchise in the IPL for Sam Billings and with the Kent keeper having opted out of that competition for the upcoming season he has the ideal chance to show his former employers what they will be missing.
Can Andre Russell come to the party for the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders please? We know he isn’t as good or as reliable as he once was but when he is on it he can still deliver big hits and sensational wickets as we saw in the Big Bash. Abu Dhabi need to see it now.
Betting
At some point you would think that the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders will figure things out but my big concern with them is that this squad is packed with West Indies players who aren’t necessarily suited to the demands of cricket in the UAE. We saw that at the World Cup last year and we’ve seen it in the first three matches here. If they can’t smoke the ball out of the park, and as these pitches tire they will struggle more and more to do that, then there is an inability to rotate the strike and they end up in a real mess.
The Desert Vipers have no such issues. They are full of English players who very much rotate the strike and put the bad ball away. The other thing like about the Vipers is that their bowling attack is very good. They have a world class spinner and two of the better seamers at mixing up their pace depending on the conditions. The Vipers just look so much better suited to the test in front of them. We saw that in the reverse meeting between these two teams and I think we see that again in the form of another comfortable Vipers win.
Tips
Back Desert Vipers (-3.5wickets/7.5runs) to beat Abu Dhabi Knight Riders for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
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