We are moving deeper into the final week of the regular season in the Indian Premier League and on Thursday we have a huge clash for the Kolkata Knight Riders who go up against the Chennai Super Kings in Dubai.
We already know that the Super Kings cannot qualify for the play-offs but Kolkata are firmly in the hunt, although with their terrible net run rate you would think only wins in their last two matches will give them a realistic chance of making it.
Chennai Super Kings
We all know by now that this has been a wretched campaign for the Chennai Super Kings. You kind of hoped that with the pressure coming off and them playing for pride that they would show signs of improvement and that is what happened last time out against the Rajasthan Royals. That spoiled the Royals’ chances of making the play-offs and now Chennai will be looking to end another party here and create havoc in the Kolkata ranks.
It didn’t need a deep search for what needed to change for the Super Kings for them to at least finish the season strongly. They had to bat better. That is exactly what they did, and while it has to be said that the Royals attack has some alarming issues, it was to the credit of the Chennai batting that they could muster a top effort against it. The task now is to back that up and at least carry something positive into next season with them.
Kolkata Knight Riders
The pressure is really on the Kolkata Knight Riders here. It is now six wins and six defeats for them but the size of a number of the defeats have left them with one of the worst net run rates in the league and that could be an issue when it comes to sorting out the play-off places. When Kolkata destroyed the Delhi Capitals a couple of games ago it looked like they were ready to launch their title bid but that came to a sharp halt in their latest match.
To be fair they didn’t do a huge amount wrong against the Kings XI last time out apart from get off to a wretched start with the bat. In the end they did well to post 150 which although it never looked enough on a small ground, started to look like they might defend it until they ran full steam into a Chris Gayle assault. There still isn’t a team in world cricket who can live with that, so we can cut them some slack but it does highlight that they can be there for the taking.
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Key Men
Sam Curran looks in great touch with the bat and the ball at the minute. He hit 50 in defeat for the Super Kings in the match before last and then took three wickets in the last game. He should be deeply involved in any Chennai performance here.
Sunil Narine looks to be the key man for the Kolkata Knight Riders if they are going to come out on top here. There is no Andre Russell so the West Indian will be expected to deliver with the bat and the ball. If he does that Kolkata would have every chance.
Betting
Despite that Sunrisers Hyderabad innings here the other day, it is becoming harder to score at Dubai at the minute. That innings was as much poor bowling as it was anything else and if you look at the other scores on this ground in recent times none of the other seven innings in the last four matches have seen the score pass 160. I’m not convinced these two sides are going to provide much different here as we’ve seen both struggle with the bat at times in the tournament.
That makes me think that the 37.5 boundaries line is a little on the high side here. Both teams have spinners who can soak up the batting power in the middle overs and importantly both have decent death bowling so as long as both sides don’t get up and running in the powerplay, and there is nothing to suggest both will, then I’m expecting this match to take under this line. With the pitch playing games and both these attacks able to exploit that I’ll go under 37.5 boundaries here.
Tips
Back Under 37.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.73 with William Hill
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