The second half of the double header in the Indian Premier League on Wednesday sees the action heading back to Mumbai for the clash between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Chennai Super Kings.
These two sides are up and running for the tournament with Chennai ahead of Kolkata by virtue of winning two of their first three as opposed to the one victory that the Knight Riders have managed to pick up. This should be a competitive contest.
Kolkata Knight Riders
After winning their opening match, the Kolkata Knight Riders have been largely disappointing in their next two. I would wager they will be delighted to get away from the tacky Chennai wickets and get on these much better to bat on ones here in Mumbai. These pitches will suit their batsmen a lot more than those in Chennai and we should see a much more confident display from the Knight Riders as a result of that.
We might also see a change in tactics from them as well. In their last match they played the conditions and started with five overs of spin with the ball. That strategy isn’t likely to get them anywhere in Mumbai where the ball hasn’t really turned at all, so they could decide to load the team with pace and try to blast out the opposition rather than contain them with the spin and hope to profit later in the innings.
Chennai Super Kings
The immediate advantage that the Chennai Super Kings have here is that they have played all three of their matches here in Mumbai and will not be guessing about conditions or having to adjust to them. They should be able to get up and running from the first ball and in what looks like it could be a tight match, even an over or two that they don’t have to adjust to conditions and their opponents do could be the difference.
In many ways the Super Kings have gone against the typical Mumbai grain. They haven’t really put up a big score either as a team or any of their individuals but their bowling has only gone round the park in the first match when we can attribute some rust as the reason for that. Since then they have contained two pretty powerful batting line ups and will be out to do the same with a third here. If they can find a few more runs it would certainly help their cause.
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Key Men
You would think these conditions will be more like the ones Andre Russell will thrive in. The ball comes onto the bat nicely for him to pin his ears back and let the ball fly and there is plenty of pace in the pitch for him to rush batsmen into bad decisions when he has the ball in hand.
Moeen Ali was absolutely brilliant with the ball in the previous match and while you get the impression that he is in the side for his batting given that he comes in at three and Jadeja gets the ball ahead of him, if he can contribute with the ball as well as the bat it does the Chennai chances no harm.
Betting
I’m expecting to see the best of the Kolkata Knight Riders in terms of performance here because this pitch is so much more conducive to bringing out their best cricket than the Chennai one. That should make for a high scoring game, especially when you consider the dew will come in and effect this match in the second half of it. We haven’t seen the best of the Chennai batting yet in the tournament but they bat so deep that it will click eventually.
That leads me to thinking that over 14.5 sixes is the way to go in this match. In the two ‘proper’ matches that the Chennai Super Kings have been involved in here they have managed to hit 10 sixes on both occasions and I certainly expect Kolkata to contribute to the six hitting when you consider the talent they have at their disposal with the bat and the positive intent that their players are sent out to play with under Eoin Morgan. That all leads to plenty of six hitting here.
Tips
WON – Back Over 14.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with BetVictor
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