We have a double header of action in the Indian Premier League on Saturday and the first match is a massive one for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. They are on the road to Pune to take on one of the joint leaders in Chennai Super Kings.
You get the feeling that in order to be involved in the postseason the Royal Challengers are going to need to win out from here but Chennai have been winning matches regularly this season and may not step aside easily.
Chennai Super Kings
There is a familiar theme forming with the Chennai Super Kings matches at the minute. They are high scoring. That is good for us who view them but I dare say the coaching staff of the ‘Yellow Submarine’ may not be quite so impressed with how loose their bowling has been over the course of the campaign.
They will probably need to tighten that up a little to be genuine dangers in the postseason but that certainly is not beyond them. If they do find a way to be more economical with the ball then they have shown throughout the season that they have a very good batting line up capable of making big scores regularly.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
You get the feeling that the Royal Challengers Bangalore are still searching for their best combination and it might be that they never truly find it but they have found one which is starting to work for them since Tim Southee came into the side. He has given them something with the ball which is a start but they still need more.
Even with the most explosive and dynamic batting line up in the competition the Royal Challengers have five losses on their ledger in this campaign to just three wins. That is never an ideal combination. They did beat Mumbai Indians last time out though to offer up a slender chance of being a force this term.
Team News
Chennai Super Kings need to make a decision with the ball. KM Asif went around the park in the last match so they might opt to bring Imran Tahir back as he has a decent record on this ground. Given the lack of batting Dwayne Bravo has had in the tournament they could probably afford to drop a batsman to make that move.
Royal Challengers Bangalore will be boosted by the return to action of AB de Villiers who is over what sounded like a nasty viral infection. Quinton de Kock has headed back to South Africa for a wedding which could see a seasonal bow for Parthiv Patel.
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Betting
I’m expecting plenty of fireworks and a high scoring contest here. With each match that has been played at this Pune venue the wicket has looked better and better for batting and the outfield has quickened up accordingly.
I think it is fair to suggest that the strength of both of these sides lies with the bat rather than the ball and in the three matches here thus far the boundaries have been peppered regularly. We have had boundary totals of 44, 41 and 54 here so far and in that first match the second innings only came to 140 which shows the potential for many boundaries. The line for this match is 44.5 but that doesn’t look high enough to me with the dominance I expect the bat to have in the contest.
Tips
Back Over 44.5 boundaries for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
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