The Indian Premier League remains in Mumbai on Thursday where we have just the one match on the schedule and it sees the unbeaten Royal Challengers Bangalore taking on the Rajasthan Royals in what should be a very good match.
It is very rare that the Royal Challengers start a season 3-0 but that is the record they go into this one with. Rajasthan are 1-2 for the season but they know a win here will move them up to the fringes of the top four.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
I would imagine the Royal Challengers Bangalore are really looking forward to this match. I say that for a few reasons. Firstly, they are unbeaten and playing good cricket, secondly they are away from Chennai and should be able to express themselves even more here in Mumbai and thirdly they are playing a side who have a few issues to address, which amazingly isn’t actually the case with the Royal Challengers.
The fact Bangalore put up scores of 160 and 200+ in Chennai highlights just how well they are going with the bat. They haven’t had a truly blistering innings from Virat Kohli either yet. This match will be more of a test for their bowling attack but if their batsmen put up another big score then even they shouldn’t find it too bad here. Bangalore do a lot of work with analysts and clearly the close season work has already paid off.
Rajasthan Royals
It has been a tough season on and off the pitch for the Rajasthan Royals so far. They have lost two out of three matches on the field, one of which they probably should have got over the line in but for a questionable last over or two. Off the field they have lost Ben Stokes to injury, still don’t know what is happening with Jofra Archer and now Liam Livingstone has gone home citing bubble fatigue leaving their batting stock a little light.
That will mean there is a lot of pressure on the likes of Jos Buttler and David Miller to deliver the goods with the bat. The Royals bat pretty deep but along with Sanju Samson, who has plenty on his plate as captain, they are the best players. They will be up against it with the ball here too and Samson will need to work his bowlers potentially better than ever in order to contain a powerful Bangalore unit.
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Key Men
Glenn Maxwell is the leading scorer in the competition so far and he could well be looking forward to filling his boots now that he is out of Chennai and onto the tiny field at the Wankhede. His bowling and fielding might be handy as well as his batting here.
Chris Morris goes up against his former employers here and he will be determined to deliver a big performance to show them what they are missing. He has already won a match with the bat for the Royals this season. He’ll hope to win one with the ball here.
Betting
I’m expecting a high scoring match here. The Royal Challengers Bangalore look in pristine form with the bat and there is every chance that the clean hitting Finn Allen comes into the side for this match to add even more firepower to an order which is littered with it. Rajasthan can fight fire with fire when it comes to hitting a clean cricket ball though and although they made a mess of it against Chennai the other day, I don’t think lightning will strike twice.
One reason for that is I don’t rate this Bangalore bowling attack at all and it could be cannon fodder in these conditions if Rajasthan bat sensibly, especially at the death when it is known for going round the park. The runs line for this match is up at 342.5 which is getting towards the higher levels of what I would like but when you consider both these teams have already hit 200 this season, Bangalore in Chennai which you can probably add another 20-25 towards to make par here, and the last match here saw both teams scoring 200, I think there is a very good chance the batsmen on show here can take us beyond this line again.
Tips
WON – Back Over 342.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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