The one match in the Indian Premier League on Thursday comes from Eden Gardens where the Kolkata Knight Riders host the Rajasthan Royals in a match which is quite simply humungous for both the teams involved.
Both these sides have had their struggles this season and go into this one knowing that they need to find urgent winning consistency else they will be watching on as the title gets decided in Hyderabad next month.
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Kolkata Knight Riders
The Kolkata Knight Riders looked like being the standout side in the competition early on. They raced away to four wins from their opening five matches, dropping just a super over loss in between, but latterly it has gone pear-shaped in a huge way. They have lost their last five matches and need to arrest that slump right here. To have any chance of the play-offs they need three wins from four but even that will depend on other teams.
Had it not been for Andre Russell, the Knight Riders would have been in even bigger strife. He plundered them to a couple of wins earlier in the season, but such has been their abjectness with the bat in recent times that even his fireworks haven’t got them home. Their bowling has been disappointing all season, something that they realised when making changes last time out, not that it had much effect.
Rajasthan Royals
This season hasn’t really got going for the Rajasthan Royals and with big players leaving after this match you sense it might never get up and running. They have won two of their last four to keep their hopes of progressing lingering a little longer but I sense deep down even they know that these remaining matches are all about preparing for next season.
Their big players have let them down this term but to be fair to those men, this is not a franchise that recruits for balance. They have so many players who all want to play the same position it is untrue, and this has been the case for a season or two now. Much like Kolkata, with the exception of one or two their bowling has been something of a shambles as well.
Team News
Kolkata Knight Riders may well look to change their bowling attack once again after getting carted against Hyderabad last time out. Lockie Ferguson hasn’t been seen for a while and it might be time for his return.
This is the final match that Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer will play in the IPL this season so it would make sense to bring Stokes in for Ashton Turner for one last hit out. Jos Buttler is already back in England.
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Betting
Even allowing for the fact that Eden Gardens is not a ground to be betting on without knowing the outcome of the toss, you couldn’t really bet on this one with any assurance anyway given the form and inconsistencies of the two sides so this was always going to be a side market venture for me.
It is the boundaries that I’m interested in here. Both these attacks have gone round the park at a crazy rate so far this season so you would envisage this to be a high scoring game. With that in mind I like over 44.5 boundaries in this one. We have some classy players on show here such as Smith, Rahane, Karthik et al so the boundaries seems a better option than the sixes to me.
Tips
WON – Back Over 44.5 boundaries for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
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