The Indian Premier League remains in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday for a clash between two of the more established and high profile sides in the competition as the Kolkata Knight Riders take on the Chennai Super Kings.
These two teams are in the logjam on four points so one of them will be pulling away from that and establishing themselves in the top four in the table as we reach the halfway mark of the regular season so this is an important match for both sides.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Two wins from four outings certainly isn’t what the Kolkata Knight Riders would have wanted from their start to the season but in the main they have looked ok. They surrendered far too many runs in the previous match but that can happen in Sharjah, especially against a powerful batting line up like the one the Delhi Capitals have. That might just have acted as a reminder that after two good performances with the ball that they cannot rest on their laurels.
The issues Kolkata are having comes with the bat and much of that is down to having an embarrassment of riches in that area. They are full of powerful batsmen that getting them in an efficient order is becoming more of a challenge. Sunil Narine isn’t doing it at the top of the order so pressure is mounting on him with Tom Banton waiting in the wings, although to make that switch would take away Narine’s bowling efficiency.
Chennai Super Kings
After an excellent opening win was followed by three ordinary and at times flat performances from the Chennai Super Kings, they will have been delighted not just to win their last match against the Kings XI Punjab but to do it so dominantly. In terms of margin it was the biggest win of the season so far as they chased down 179 without losing a wicket and with more than two overs to spare. You could tell the opening pair appreciated the depth below them and it freed them up to perform.
There are still a few question marks over this Chennai side with the ball. Of their regular bowlers only Deepak Chahar is going at less than eight an over and that is something that will need to change as the tournament goes along if they are going to be successful. If it doesn’t then reinforcements might need to come in. That might happen soon anyway with Sam Curran proving to be expensive and there being plenty of cover in terms of batting depth to do without him.
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Key Men
Shubman Gill has had a good start to the IPL season and often the hardest time to score against this Chennai Super Kings side is first up because the spinners and death bowlers are going round the park. If Gill can get them going early it would be a serious boost.
Faf du Plessis has been in great touch in this Indian Premier League so far and he has the capability of getting the Chennai Super Kings off to a flyer and putting the Knight Riders attack under early pressure, which as we saw at the weekend can yield dividends.
Betting
I think it is fair to say that both these batting line ups are going better than the bowling attacks they are going to be up against. Chennai only have one bowler going at less than eight an over and the same can be said of Kolkata, although it might actually be that none of theirs have because it is Andre Russell who has a 7.75 economy rate but he’s only bowled eight overs in three matches. The rest are all over eight an over.
That makes me think that the boundaries are going to continue to flow in this match. Both teams bat very deep. Piyush Chawla was on the card to come in at number 11 last time out for the Super Kings and he has First-class centuries to his name. Kolkata sent Rahul Tripathi in at eight against the Delhi Capitals so there is certainly no shortage of batsmen and there are players that can find the boundary at the end of the innings which is important. I see this as a high scoring game so over 39.5 boundaries will be the way I go here.
Tips
WON – Back Over 39.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
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