The final of the Indian Premier League takes place on Sunday as the Royal Challengers Bangalore take on the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M Chinnaswamy in Bangalore. This should be a great final but whatever happens in it we are guaranteed a new champion of the lucrative tournament.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Bangalore needed just one chance to make it into this final when they dispatched the Gujarat Lions here on Tuesday despite looking like they were going to blow it at one stage of events. They got off to a horrible start to their run chase but AB de Villiers came good and got them over the line.
In Virat Kohli, Bangalore have the highest run scorer in the tournament while Yuzvendra Chahal and Shane Watson are second in the wicket taking list with 20 each and in recent matches they have been well supported by Chris Jordan who is in good form.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Hyderabad have made it to this final the hard way. They’ve had to survive two knockout matches in Delhi but they’ve done just that. They were too good for Kolkata in the first of those matches and then came past Gujarat Lions in the second one in pretty ruthless fashion.
Dave Warner is the second highest run scorer in the competition and he’ll be looking to go big once again here. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the leading wicket taker in the tournament and you feel he will need to get early wickets if the Sunrisers are to win this final.
Team news
Bangalore aren’t expected to make any changes to a side that is really clicking at the minute. The only way they would make changes now would be if there is a last minute injury that hasn’t been disclosed.
Sunrisers are sweating on the fitness of Mustafiqur Rahman who missed the last game through injury. While Trent Boult is an able replacement Mustafiqur’s mystery at the death is such a valuable asset they don’t want to be without it.
Form
Royal Challengers Bangalore: WLLWLLLWWLWWWWW
Sunrisers Hyderabad: LLWWWLWWWWLWLLWW
Head to head: Royal Challengers Bangalore 4-4 Sunrisers Hyderabad
In Bangalore: Royal Challengers Bangalore 3-1 Sunrisers Hyderabad
M Chinnaswamy Stadium
We had a bit of a slow and tacky wicket for the first playoff game on this ground but I don’t see that being the case for the final. This tournament is too big to have a damp squib of a final so I’m expecting another batting paradise, the sort which we usually get on this ground.
When this stadium held the final in 2014 Kolkata chased down 200 to win and I wouldn’t be surprised if 200 is needed to win the title again in this final especially with the batting power that is on display in this match.
Betting
We all know the score with regards to my feelings about betting on the match outcome on this ground so I’m not going to go into that again but I will take a couple of bets on the side markets.
I’m slightly surprised that the sixes line here is only 16.5 when there were 22 here the last time these two sides played here earlier in the season. Since then Chris Gayle and Yuvraj Singh have found form so you would think there is potential for even more sixes if that were possible.
We’ve noticed that this Sunrisers attack hasn’t been as tight in recent times as it was at the start of the season and that bodes well for a few sixes in this match. I don’t need to go through the power on show with the bat but we’ve got the leading three run scorers in the competition on show here and so I’m expecting to see plenty of sixes as we go along.
I’m also going to have a dabble on the man of the match where Shane Watson looks overpriced at 14/1. He hasn’t had to have much of an impact with the bat this season because of the form of the top three but he has all the ability needed should he be called upon but he’s the sort of bowler who could get noticed.
He’ll bowl in the powerplay and he’ll come back again at the death and his bouncers and pace changes can create havoc in any batting line up. It might be that with all the left handers in this Sunrisers line up that the Bangalore spinners don’t have as much of an effect here which could leave Watson to take advantage.
A quick cameo with the bat and a decent spell with the ball and the Australian all-rounder could be the one to snatch the man of the match prize from the likes of Kohli, de Villiers and Warner.
Tips
WON – Back Over 16.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Skybet
Back it here:
Back S.Watson Man of the Match for a 1/10 stake at 15.00 with 888sport
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2016
