Despite Covid-19 rampaging through the country, the Indian Premier League continues on Monday when the tournament heads to Ahmedabad for the first time as the Punjab Kings take on the Kolkata Knight Riders.
Both these sides have struggled in the early stages of their campaign but the Punjab Kings did win their last match so it will be interesting to see whether they can maintain the momentum they carry into this match or not.
Punjab Kings
The Punjab Kings have played five matches so far this term and they have bookended those matches with victories, with three tame defeats mixed in the middle. This might only be their sixth match of the season but it has already been the third venue they will have played at so unlike some of the sides in the competition they haven’t been afford the luxury of being able to settle into a place and get a complete understanding of the conditions.
We did see a complete performance from the Punjab outfit in their latest match when they thrashed the Mumbai Indians. That was a surprise because those Chennai conditions are the ones which probably suit the Kings the least so they should take a lot of confidence from that win. They made some smart changes with the ball and used their resources much better and that has to be the benchmark for the attack now. They need to keep performing at that level because in the main their batting looks fine.
Kolkata Knight Riders
The Kolkata Knight Riders won their opening match of the season but since then they have suffered four pretty tame defeats so they sit bottom of the table and in urgent need of an upturn in form if they are going to be relevant in the race for the postseason. Like Punjab, Kolkata have flittered between venues and they will be playing at their third different venue here too. They should enjoy these conditions more than they did Chennai.
What is really surprising is that they played twice in Mumbai where the conditions should really have suited them and they lost on both occasions. The main reason for that has been their batting just hasn’t played like we would expect a team captained by Eoin Morgan to play. He acknowledged that after their latest defeat so it will be interesting to see how they go here. They haven’t really maintained much pressure with the ball either which isn’t a good combination.
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Key Men
Deepak Hooda is beginning to play a big role for the Punjab Kings. He is batting at four where he will be given the task of getting after the Kolkata spinners and then he is bowling a few overs as well. If Punjab are to win this match it would be a surprise if he doesn’t contribute strongly somewhere.
I will be interested to see if Sunil Narine is shoved up the order to open. He is wasted in the middle order and it might suit someone like Nitish Rana better to come in first change. Narine can get the Knight Riders off to a good start and set the tone as well as continue to be miserly with the ball.
Betting
I’ll be interested to see what the conditions are like in Ahmedabad because they were changeable at times when England were here earlier in the year but throughout that series one thing was noticeable and that was the amount of sixes that were hit. Looking at the line ups of these two sides and the way they play I am expecting to see plenty of sixes in this match regardless of the conditions and things like that.
In that series between India and England the sixes totals were 10 (when 124 was the score batting first), 12, 11, 14 and 20 and it was only really the last two matches which were in any way high scoring. The sixes line for this match is 12.5 which immediately looks low when you remember how Morgan wants Kolkata to play and when you consider the likes of KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Sunil Narine, Eoin Morgan and Andre Russell among others are all batting for us. The one thing we did see in that series earlier in the year is that the boundaries here are accessible, particularly straight down the ground where the likes of Gayle, Pooran and Russell in particular will target. Neither attack is going great guns so unless the pitch is an absolute pudding, which first up in the competition it shouldn’t be, I expect this line to be covered.
Tips
Back Over 12.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.90 with Betway
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