The Indian Premier League continues on Sunday when two sides continue their competition in what is the second match of the competition in Sharjah. The Rajasthan Royals go up against the Kings XI Punjab in a clash which should possess plenty of fireworks.
Both teams go into this contest off the back of wins in their last outings so there is a little bit of the pressure relieved which should further bring about plenty of aggressive cricket. The winner of this one will sit very nicely in the early table.
Rajasthan Royals
It has been a bit of a slow start to the tournament for the Rajasthan Royals. This is the ninth day of the tournament and here they are playing just their second match. They were brutal in their first one when they peppered the boundaries against the Chennai Super Kings in a high scoring contest on this ground. Winning would have been a confidence boost for them anyway but they fact they won with key players yet to come into the side would have been even bigger for them.
Clearly everything ticked for the Royals in their opening game as far as the batting is concerned with Sanju Samson coming out and playing like he had been in action throughout the year rather than off a six month break. One area where the Rajasthan outfit can improve is with the ball. With the exception of the brilliant Jofra Archer, they all went round the park a little too much for comfort so that will need to be addressed ahead of this game.
Kings XI Punjab
The Kings XI Punjab come into this match with a 1-1 record for the tournament but they will know that should have been a 2-0 one because they literally tossed away the first game from a strong winning position. They made up for that when they thrashed the Rajasthan Royals last time out and you get the impression that they are a good side who could threaten the status quo in this tournament between now and the end of the regular season.
It was their batting which cost them in that opening match so they will be delighted to have seen their captain KL Rahul come to the party last time out. They still have Chris Gayle to unleash on the tournament at some point so you can see the Kings XI putting up plenty of big scores. If they do that they certainly have the different options to defend those scores. They look one of the better teams in the field too so there is a lot to like about the Punjab outfit.
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Key Men
Jos Buttler had to miss the opening match for the Rajasthan Royals but he is available here and with the form he showed in the recent series between England and Australia, he is likely to be a key man for the inaugural champions of this tournament.
KL Rahul was quite brilliant in the previous match for the Kings XI Punjab and he’ll need to be at his best in this one to get through the new ball spell from Jofra Archer. If he can get through that then batting should become easier and he can announce himself on this stage once again.
Betting
This looks an even match and it should be a really good one based on that but rather than attempt to pick the winner of it I’m going straight for the sixes where even at 16.5 the line looks pretty low on this miniscule Sharjah ground right now. Later in the competition the boundaries might be harder to clear but this is just the second match on this ground so the square will still be fairly fresh and we saw a perfect wicket in the first game here.
16.5 sixes sounds quite a high target but when you think there were 33 of them in the opening match on this ground it clearly isn’t that high. That is even more the case when you think Rajasthan Royals are going to bring Jos Buttler into their side while the Kings XI could be bringing Chris Gayle and Glenn Maxwell out to play. If Gayle doesn’t play the explosive Nicholas Pooran will so there is a lot of six hitting potential here and I’m happy to be on the overs.
Tips
WON – Back Over 16.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with BetVictor
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