There is just the one match in the Indian Premier League on Wednesday with two sides continuing their IPL 2021 campaign as the Rajasthan Royals take on the Royal Challengers Bangalore in what is a big match for both sides.
The buffer that the Royal Challengers had on fifth spot is beginning to erode so they could do with a win just to maintain that gap while the Rajasthan Royals are starting to fall behind in the race for the top four so both teams will be eager to win here.
Rajasthan Royals
The Rajasthan Royals have seen themselves drop down to seventh spot in the standings and although they are only two points off fourth with a game in hand, their net run rate is going to let them down at the minute. After this one they will only have three games left so they either need to win here or somewhere down the line they are going to need a big win or two. They have to win three of their last four to have any chance of extending their season.
If that is going to happen then their batsmen are going to need to offer a lot more support to Sanju Samson than they have done in the last couple of matches. He has been fighting a lone hand and hasn’t been able to get them over the line. They probably need their bowlers to come to the party after they allowed the Sunrisers Hyderabad batsmen to dominate them in a defeat which we might look back on in a week or so as being quite a costly one.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
The Royal Challengers Bangalore were surprisingly ordinary on the restart of this tournament. I say that was surprising because they went so well in the UAE season of the IPL last year but they got going again with two very tame defeats where their batsmen just never fired at all. This is a side who need their big guns going well with the bat so they would have been delighted that Glenn Maxwell came good in that department in their recent win over the Mumbai Indians.
The Bangalore bowlers were also in good touch in that game and it might be that bringing in Dan Christian for all his experience and nerve under pressure with the ball is a good move moving forward, even if it does mean that the power of Tim David can’t get in. The pitches don’t necessarily suit him anyway. If Maxwell keeps on firing and Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers can up their game too when Bangalore might end up peaking at the right time.
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Key Men
Liam Livingstone is in danger of being messed about by the Rajasthan Royals. He isn’t best suited to number four but he is going to need a score soon if he is going to stay in the team. Overseas places in this tournament come at a premium as the Lancashire man might find out if he keeps failing to deliver.
Glenn Maxwell was in fine form with both the bat and the ball last time out and I expect him to continue his good form. I say that because he is a brutal player of spin and teams are going to bowl more of it as these pitches continue to tire. His own spin bowling can come in handy as well.
Betting
Matches between these two sides tend to be high scoring and with this match being in Dubai there is every chance that this one will follow suit. The reverse meeting between these two saw Bangalore chase down 180 without losing a wicket while last season in the UAE Bangalore made 179/3 and 158/2 chasing scores successfully. The first of those was on this ground too. There is also a game between the two when Bangalore scored 190 and it wasn’t enough so there is something about runs being scored when these two meet.
I suspect it is down to the Bangalore bowling attack not being the best and I still think that is the case even though they bowled Mumbai out cheaply in their last match. Mumbai aren’t good players of spin after they lose a couple of wickets but that isn’t necessarily the case with Rajasthan. I’ve mentioned before how Rajasthan bat quite deep while Bangalore have three of the most feared batsmen in world cricket. I like the idea that this one heads over 314.5 runs, especially as three of the last four first innings here have been 164 or higher.
Tips
Back Over 314.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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