After 56 regular season matches the Indian Premier League playoffs are set to begin in Bangalore on Tuesday. Eight sides have been whittled down to just four and in five days time we will know the identity of the 2016 champions.
The first two sides who get the chance to book their spots in the final at the earliest opportunity are the Gujarat Lions and Royal Challengers Bangalore. The winners of this match will go straight to the final while the losers will get a sudden death chance to qualify for it on Friday.
Gujarat Lions
Despite topping the league table with nine wins from their 14 matches, Gujarat actually had a negative net run rate and the chief reason for that was their heavy defeat to their opponents here earlier in the competition.
On that day Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers blasted the Lions bowling attack to all parts and the game was done at half time but Gujarat have shown that if they get matches into the latter stages they are masters of the art of holding their nerve and getting over the line.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
It looked like this was going to be a frustrating season for the Bangalore side but they have flown home with the wind in their sails and probably go into the playoffs as the favourites to be crowned champions for the first time.
Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers have stolen the headlines this season but perhaps the biggest influence in terms of getting results in this side has been the leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. He goes into the playoffs with the purple cap for the most wickets in the tournament.
Team news
It is hard to see Gujarat making too many changes to their side at this late stage. Dale Steyn and James Faulkner have been out since the beginning of the month and this might not be the time to bring them in.
Royal Challengers Bangalore, understandably, often go with the extra seamer in home matches which this one effectively is even though it is a playoff match. That could mean that Varun Aaron comes back into the team potentially at the expense of Iqbal Abdulla.
Form
Gujarat Lions: WWWLWWWLLLWLWW
Royal Challengers Bangalore: WLLWLLLWWLWWWW
Head to head: Gujarat Lions 1-1 Royal Challengers Bangalore
In Bangalore: Gujarat Lions 0-1 Royal Challengers Bangalore
M Chinnaswamy Stadium
After the re-routing which went on mid-season for the playoffs we have ended up with this first playoff game in Bangalore and the final will be held here too.
The ground has already held seven matches in the regular season with the majority of them being high scoring not least the one here between these two where Bangalore put up almost 250 and were never in danger of losing from there. We keep repeating it but the ground is tiny and the wicket is usually always good for batting.
Betting
Seven times we’ve had matches here on this ground this season and seven times I have mentioned that I’m reluctant to bet on games before the toss because this ground is so hard to defend and I’m going to make those comments for an eighth time.
As with many previous matches I’m heading for the sixes here again. Gujarat have an insanely powerful batting line up with left and right handers which can be crucial while Bangalore are the most powerful with the bat.
The sixes line here requires 17 sixes which you might feel could be a little high for a playoff match but AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli polished this total off and some when the two sides met here earlier in the season.
Of course innings’ like that don’t happen very often but Gujarat never showed up that day. They will show up here though and contribute a lot more to the hitting so between the two sides I’m expecting at least 17 more sixes with all the power they contain.
Tips
Back Over 16.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Coral
Back it here:
