The first double header since the Indian Premier League restarted takes place on Saturday as the Delhi Capitals and the Rajasthan Royals continue their IPL 2021 campaign in Abu Dhabi in what is yet another big match for both.
The Capitals are locked in a battle with the Chennai Super Kings for top spot in the table and a win here would move them ahead in that race, while the Royals are in a bit of a jam on eight points and looking to come out of that and move into the playoff places.
Delhi Capitals
Whether it has been in India or in the UAE, the Delhi Capitals have been going great guns this season. They will be fuelled by the fire of losing in the final last season and will be eager to go one better this season. The positive for the Capitals is other than hold their nerve together in the big match there really isn’t a lot else they need to improve on. They have a very solid batting unit and arguably the best mix of bowlers in the competition.
The one thing Delhi seem to do is get off to good starts with both the bat and the ball. In Shikhar Dhawan they have arguably the form batsman in the competition at the minute and in Anrich Nortje they have one of the best bowlers. Teams need to start targeting those players but the backup to them are very strong too so even then there is no guarantee you can get at Delhi. If there is an area of weakness then they have a fair sized tail but getting to the position to take advantage of that isn’t easy.
Rajasthan Royals
This has already been a real rollercoaster of a season for the Rajasthan Royals and there is plenty of it left. Their last match was probably a sign of the incredible ups and downs this team go through. They looked like they were cruising against the Punjab Kings and then they stumbled and then they were down and out before an incredible ending saw them get over the line. Spirit like that can get you a long way but it does use up emotional energy so that is something to look out for.
You have to give the Royals a lot of credit really. They are missing some amazing talents in the form of Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer but they are still getting on with business and refusing to give in. The one thing which could serve Rajasthan well over the remainder of the campaign is the depth they have to their batting. They won’t always strike gold at the death with the ball but the one thing the win in the last game will have done is give them the belief that they could win from anywhere.
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Key Men
Shikhar Dhawan is ploughing a lone furrow at the top of the batting standings in the competition. He is the only man with 400 runs in the season to date and he picked up where he left off in the restart game earlier in the week. He’s a big player for Delhi here.
Liam Livingstone is having a great time of it right now but he has to be careful of just being an out and out slogger. He is better than that but in the quarter final of the T20 Blast and the first game here he was in and cruising but then pushed the boat out once too many. If he can bat smarter and move his 20s and 30s into 70s and 80s his team will win a lot more than they lose.
Betting
I think we’ll see a few runs in this match. I’m not convinced that this Rajasthan Royals bowling attack is built for restricting sides but I do think they are going to go after the bowling when they have the bat in their hand which makes me think that what I would call a medium range runs line of 313.5. The Delhi Capitals tick a lot of boxes with the bat at the minute and although their tail is a little longer than I would like, there isn’t really anyone in the top six who is out of form.
There are a number of batsmen who if they have a day out here they can explode into life and bring this runs line down to a manageable figure. The likes of Evin Lewis, Rishabh Pant, Liam Livingstone, Shimron Hetmyer, Sanju Samson and Marcus Stoinis if he plays can all score at over 175 strike rate for a significant period of time and that will see the over land. Two normal innings will do likewise so I am happy to be on the over here.
Tips
Back Over 313.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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