The first round of matches in the new Indian Premier League season comes to an end on Monday when the Rajasthan Royals takes on the Kings XI Punjab as the last two teams to get their campaigns underway do so in Jaipur.
These two sides have been disappointing in recent times despite the odd flirt with the postseason, so they will be dedicating themselves to give their best showing over the course of this season. You wouldn’t say either are favourites starting out on the season but both can be dangerous.
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Rajasthan Royals
The Rajasthan Royals will be the neutrals side in England given the amount of English talent they have on display. The talent they have has never been in question but whether the inaugural IPL champions have the right balance for that talent remains to be seen. They were loaded with opening batsmen last season but really struggled to find the right order. Having had the auction to address that, all eyes will be on them to see what they’ve come up with.
The other issue they have is getting a decent spinner into their ranks. They have found finding a truly top class Indian spinner difficult to come by in recent seasons and with three heavyweight overseas batsmen in their ranks that combination probably doesn’t help them put an international player in either. That is a conundrum they will need to sort quickly.
Kings XI Punjab
A lack of continuity has probably been the main reason for the inconsistency of the Kings XI Punjab side in recent times but they haven’t seen as many changes heading into this campaign so they will be looking to build on last year. More importantly they have some big players coming into the tournament in good form unlike last year so they might just quietly fancy their chances.
The issue that is pretty obvious for the Punjab side is a lack of depth in their seam options which is a huge factor when it comes to the death overs. As a result of that they are probably going to need more runs on the board than they normally would, or they are going to need luck with the toss and make sure they are chasing.
Team News
It would appear that Steve Smith is going to make his return for the Rajasthan Royals here. With Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer certainties to play that makes up the four overseas players for the Royals.
Kings XI Punjab will be without Andrew Tye who is back in Australia still and David Miller who will only have got into India late on the eve of the match or on the day of it. Chris Gayle is fit to play with Sam Curran potentially getting a game too.
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Betting
As with the second match on Sunday, I want to see both these sides in action before I get involved on either of them but if I was betting it would be on the Rajasthan Royals because I truly fear for the Kings XI Punjab at the death especially without Andrew Tye. I’m not so concerned about the Punjab outfit with the bat though which makes me think the over 325.5 runs is worth taking here. Gayle and Rahul can propel the scoring of most matches while Buttler, Samson and Stokes won’t be scoring slowly either. That all makes me think we’ll get plenty of runs in this one.
Given that I expect Kings XI to be cannon fodder in the latter overs it makes sense to have a small play on Ben Stokes to be the top Rajasthan Royals batsman here. He’ll come into proceedings in the second half of the innings and should get enough time to play himself in before going berserk at the end. With Tye absent I’m expecting whoever is in for the Royals to make hay while the sun shines. At 13/2 I’ll take that man to be Ben Stokes.
Tips
WON – Back Over 325.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Betway
Back it here:
Back B.Stokes Top Rajasthan Royals Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 7.50 with Betfair
Back him here:
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