Two of the lower ranked sides in the Indian Premier League table get the chance to resume their IPL 2021 season on Tuesday when the Punjab Kings take on the Rajasthan Royals in a big match for both sides in Dubai.
Both these teams struggled when the competition was held in India in the first part of the season and they will be hoping that the move to the UAE will inspire them to deliver a much stronger run of form, beginning right here.
Punjab Kings
The Punjab Kings were probably the underachievers in the first half of the Indian Premier League season. A side with the talent they had at their disposal should be winning a lot more than three from their opening eight matches. They probably now need to win five of their last six games if they are going to be around when the regular season concludes. That is a tough ask but we’ve seen teams go on burst before in these franchise events so there is no reason why the Kings can’t do it.
If the Punjab Kings are going to make it through to the postseason then they are going to need to find some consistency to their play. Their three wins were pretty emphatic ones but then in between them they let themselves down with the bat. This is a powerful batting unit that should win games with ease when it comes off. One issue they might encounter is with the ball with a couple of first choice options opting not to come to this leg of the campaign.
Rajasthan Royals
It hasn’t been the start to the season that the Rajasthan Royals would have wanted either but to be fair to them a lot of their plans went up in smoke when Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer sustained injuries which restricted the former to minimal appearances while the latter made none. They understandably took a while to get going but they had won two of their last three matches prior to the stoppage so will be hoping to pick up where they left off.
The good thing for the Royals is that since the first part of the IPL, Liam Livingstone has caught fire and he’ll be coming into the remainder of the campaign in fine fettle. They have managed to pick up Evin Lewis as a decent replacement for Jos Buttler as well which is helpful so they certainly don’t lack for power with the bat. Therefore if they can deliver the goods with the ball then there is no reason why Rajasthan can’t be a feature over the remainder of the campaign.
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Key Men
Adil Rashid must be one of the best players never to have played regularly in the IPL but he gets a chance to show the competition what it has been missing as he has been picked up by the Punjab Kings to cover for bowlers who haven’t come back. He’ll be eager to impress.
Liam Livingstone couldn’t be coming back into the second part of the campaign in better form and with the World T20 to come these matches are a chance to rubber stamp his place in England’s starting XI for that tournament. Look for him to go big.
Betting
I think it is fair to say that the two sides line up much stronger with the bat than they do the ball in this match with a couple of the bowlers for the Punjab Kings making their debut in this elite competition and one or two Rajasthan bowlers missing from the remainder of the competition. On the flip side of that in Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Evin Lewis and Liam Livingstone we have four of the biggest hitters in world cricket so I’m expecting some sixes in this one.
Obviously in an ideal world this match would be on the tiny ground in Sharjah but I still think an 11.5 sixes line is one which can be covered. The first meeting between these two took place in Mumbai which skews things slightly but it was packed with sixes and when you add the likes of KL Rahul, Sanju Samson and Deepak Hooda to the list of power players above I think it makes sense to expect sixes here. The pitch should be in decent enough condition that these two sides can combine for a dozen sixes.
Tips
Back Over 11.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfair
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