The second round of fixtures begin in the Indian Premier League on Tuesday and we see an IPL return to the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai when the Chennai Super Kings play host to the Kolkata Knight Riders.
Both sides won their opening match of the campaign so whoever wins this one will take the early initiative in the league table for the season and will be able to play relaxing and pressure free cricket for the coming matches.
Chennai Super Kings
It wasn’t a flawless performance by the Chennai Super Kings by any stretch of the imagination on their return to the competition after their two year ban but they got the job done and ultimately that is all that matters. It took a blitz from Dwayne Bravo to get them home when it looked like the match was lost.
In fairness though the Super Kings bowled very well and while you could argue that the Mumbai Indians made a mess of their batting line up that was nothing to do with Chennai. Chennai have built their squad on delivering the goods at home so there will be pressure on them in this match especially as this is their first home game in almost three years.
Kolkata Knight Riders
I was very impressed with the Kolkata Knight Riders in their first match. You could claim that they conceded far too many with the ball but it is easy to get flustered in the field when AB de Villiers is coming at you. They didn’t do that and once a punt taken by Dinesh Karthik worked to the absolute treat you always felt the Knight Riders would get home.
Perhaps the biggest thing for the Knight Riders is that there should be a whole lot more to come from them going forward too. Chris Lynn never got going in that win and Andre Russell’s impact was minimal too. These are two world class cricketers who can win any match on their own on their day. Their days will surely come as well.
Team News
Chennai Super Kings are going to be forced into at least one change with news that Kedar Jadhav is out with a hamstring injury. David Willey has been called up to replace him but will not arrive in time to play but Murali Vijay is fit so he could slot in. Mark Wood was expensive in the first match which could see Lundi Ngidi play in his place.
Kolkata Knight Riders didn’t have too many issues in the first match so it remains to be seen if they make any changes for this one. Their four overseas players look locked in unless Mitchell Johnson can’t do two games in 48hrs. If he can’t then Tom Curran or Javon Searles could come in for him.
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Betting
These two sides look fairly tough to split and given the bias in the competition thus far on the sides who have been chasing I think it is tough to bet on the match outcome prior to the off, as I found out to my cost on Monday, so I’m going to head to the side markets for bets on Tuesday.
The main bet I like comes in the total runs market where the line of 330.5 is bordering on the ridiculous. This is not going to be a high scoring match. Not only are both bowling attacks very solid but the wicket in Chennai massively favours spin and is likely to slow up as both innings go on. Each side could use as many as four spinners each so there is going to be a real trial by spin going on. Chennai only just made 165 on a road in Mumbai on Saturday and with a batsman light their contribution to the total is likely to be lower than needed. With that in mind I’m on the under.
Ravi Jadeja batted at six in the previous match but with Jadhav out there is a chance he could go up one to five which makes him an enticing proposition to top score at 18/1. Even if he does bat at six I’m not expecting the scoring to be too high so if Jadeja can get in and time a few into the deep he could easily nail something significant enough from that position to land the top scoring honours.
Tips
Back Under 330.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back R.Jadeja Top Chennai Super Kings Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 19.00 with 888sport
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