The second part of the double header in the Indian Premier League on Sunday sees the team top of the table going into the weekend taking on the team that is bottom of the pile as the Mumbai Indians go up against the Kings XI Punjab.
The Mumbai Indians are looking like the team they all have to beat in the competition so far while the Kings XI Punjab have had their struggles but they do go into this one off the back of a win, one they’ll be looking to back up here.
Mumbai Indians
The Mumbai Indians have won their last five matches going into this encounter so they will be feeling very good about their game and already they are making the smart moves of getting people up the order for time in the middle wherever they can so that everyone is in form when the play-offs come along. That is a very smart move although they shouldn’t do it at the expense of winning because we know that making the top two of this competition carries added significance.
Nothing is going wrong for the Indians to date. They are scoring plenty of runs and most of their top order have had sufficient time at the crease which means that isn’t likely to change and then with the ball in hand they are very good too, although there was an opening with the ball in the last game with Nathan Coulter-Nile making his bow in the competition. It will be interesting to see if he keeps his place in the side for this one.
Kings XI Punjab
The Kings XI Punjab have the leading two batsmen in the competition so far so the fact their only wins to date have come in their two matches against the Royal Challengers Bangalore you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to work out where their issues are. They are clearly with the ball where very little has gone right for them so far. If they are going to mount a sustained run of form then they need to ensure they improve in that department.
The Kings XI threw something of a curveball out in the last game when they went with Chris Gayle and batted him at three. I was initially sceptical about that move but it worked brilliantly however whether that was a plan just for Sharjah or something that will work around the grounds remains to be seen. At the very least they are likely to try it here and see how it goes. The move extends their batting which in theory should take some of the pressure off their bowling.
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Key Men
Trent Boult has been in decent enough form with the new ball this season and you would think that if the Mumbai Indians are to make things easier for themselves here they need early wickets to get through this fearsome top three of the Kings XI so Boult’s new ball spell is going to be important.
KL Rahul has been in awesome form in this tournament but he’ll be tested here against this tasty Mumbai Indians bowling attack. If he can get his side off to a strong start then it would set them up on their way to a big performance at least.
Betting
I’ve been going with the trend of matches being lower scoring in recent times but I think this could be the match that bucks that trend. These two teams are the best two batting sides in the competition and unlike some of the other teams they are pretty good at both ends of the innings which opens up the potential for plenty of runs to be scored. That certainly shouldn’t be an issue for the Indians because the Kings XI bowling has been awful all season.
To contrast that though the Kings XI batting looks even stronger with Chris Gayle in their ranks and if the likes of Glenn Maxwell can also come to the party then they have plenty of runs in them too. The run line here is 330.5 which looks on the lower end of the scale, particularly here at Dubai where we’ve seen the boundaries are a little more accessible than at Abu Dhabi where the earlier game had the same line between two much weaker batting sides. The over on these markets is probably not the way to go long-term for the remainder of the season but it should be here.
Tips
WON – Back Over 330.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.90 with Betway
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