The Indian Premier League heads to Eden Gardens for the first time in the IPL 2023 season on Thursday when the Kolkata Knight Riders play their opening home match of the campaign when they host the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
These two had different opening outcomes in their first matches of the season with Kolkata being denied by the rain in Mohali and Bangalore absolutely murdering the Mumbai Indians. It makes this a bigger game for the home side.
Kolkata Knight Riders
When we assessed the squads of the teams in the lead up to this season there was a glaring lack of standout quality at the top of the Kolkata Knight Riders’ order. You kind of got the impression that they were going to get a little funky and would sort out the obvious weakness but then we saw the first game and that wasn’t really the case. They have Jason Roy on his way which will help but he won’t be around for this game so they need someone unheralded to be a hero here.
You can understand why Kolkata have invested a lot into their bowling attack this season. Eden Gardens is generally a decent batting pitch and so they are going to need elite bowlers who can get through the defences of the best batters in the game and they have two or three of them. Even then their attack feels like it is lacking a bit of depth. It might just be that they are a squad settling into their work but they certainly need much more in this game.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Going into the season all the talk surrounding the Royal Challengers Bangalore was about whether they could continue the good showings of the last three campaigns now they are back home for seven matches. The Chinnaswamy is notoriously tough to defend and that has often been their downfall in the IPL in previous years. We didn’t really get the answer to that in their opening game because they were able to chase so that is still something to look out for.
The other thing to look for in this match is how their middle order are used and how they go. The job was largely done by the opening pair in the opening game so we didn’t really get to see what touch the rest of the players are in. A bigger concern though would be the look of their bowling attack which had a light look about it anyway but the injury to Reece Topley exacerbates the situation. David Willey could be an option to replace him.
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Key Players
Someone needs to get the Kolkata Knight Riders off to a better start with the bat and now that he has had a taste of the IPL the responsibility could fall on Rahmanullah Gurbaz who went well in the CPL and has the talent to shine.
Virat Kohli began the season like he was in the form of his life and if he has a strong campaign then the Royal Challengers Bangalore will feel very good about their chances of success this season. He has the chance to go big again.
Betting
I see no reason why the trend of high scoring matches and tons of fours and sixes isn’t going to continue in this match. In an ideal world the Kolkata Knight Riders unit would have one more clean hitter at the top of the order but it isn’t out of the question that they shove a Sunil Narine in there to deliver the goods. Either way in Nitish Rana, Sunil Narine, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Andre Russell there is enough power hitting in their ranks.
There is certainly no shortage of big hitting in the Bangalore batting as we saw in their opening match. Kolkata have a useful bowling attack but no more than that while the Bangalore attack looks like it is already a little stretched. The boundaries at Eden Gardens are bigger than in Bangalore but not to the extent they can’t be cleared. We’re yet to see a ball do anything in this tournament and a first game for the Knight Riders at Eden Gardens in ages doesn’t feel like the time that will change. The 13.5 sixes line looks well within reach to me.
Tips
Back Over 13.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Bet365
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