The last four league games in the Indian Premier League season take place across two double headers of action this weekend and there is a lot to play for over the course of the two days although not so much in the match which kicks off the final weekend of the regular season.
Rising Pune Supergiants and the Kings XI Punjab have both disappointed badly this season and they will play to avoid the wooden spoon in this match but avoiding that would only be a small consolation for what has been a wretched campaign.
Rising Pune Supergiants
Pune at least have a slight excuse for their poor campaign. Their entire top order was pretty much decimated by injury early enough into the competition for their plans to be thrown out of the window and reinforcements had to come and settle in which was never easy.
Throughout all of that their batting has largely been ok in this tournament but their bowling was really poor. Just in the last couple of games that record looks to have switched around so I’m sure MS Dhoni will be hoping for a complete performance from his side to end the season.
Kings XI Punjab
As if to not be outdone by the Supergiants, the Kings XI have now got a lengthy injury list of their own and as such they have fallen apart having shown signs of life when Murali Vijay took on the captaincy.
Their bowling was their strength in the early weeks of the season but that has been carted in the last couple of matches but on the flip side their batting struggles have suddenly become their strength despite their many injuries in that area.
Team news
It is hard to second guess either side going into this match because both could decide to use their squad with nothing on the game. One thing we do know is that Pune don’t have many options to change their overseas players so Usman Khawaja, George Bailey, Adam Zampa and Thisara Perera look set in stone.
Kings XI Punjab will be without Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell who have gone home citing injuries. That should mean that Farhaan Behardien and Kyle Abbott remain in the side. KC Cariappa went the distance last game and could be left out here.
Form
Rising Pune Supergiants: WLLLLWLLWLLLW
Kings XI Punjab: LLWLLLWLWLWLL
Head to head: Rising Pune Supergiants 0-1 Kings XI Punjab
In Visakhapatnam: First meeting
Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium
This match is the final one of six to be played on this ground in this tournament. Scores in the previous five have generally been low apart from one time when the Mumbai Indians went absolutely mental against the Delhi Daredevils last weekend.
The boundaries here are pretty small in the straight areas but with all the cricket that has been played here the wickets are looking a little tired and are really taking turn which should play into the hands of the home side you would think.
Betting
I fancy Pune to win but I’m not rushing to back them at 8/11 given their form this season. That is too dangerous especially in a dead rubber so I will look at the side markets as I can’t really be backing Kings XI either.
The obvious market to hit is the sixes one where the line is interestingly set up at 10.5. I think that is too high here. The wicket looks to be tiring badly so hitting big shots isn’t going to be easy. Zampa and Ashwin are likely to thrive in these conditions but with Maxwell and Stoinis back home the Kings XI aren’t going to hit many sixes anyway.
Pune haven’t been going big with the bat all season and while the Kings XI have had a couple of shocking performances with the ball I fancy they will go much better on this particular pitch so all things being equal that 10.5 line looks a couple too high.
Tips
Back Under 10.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
Back them here:
