The top two in the Indian Premier League table meet in the one match in the competition on Wednesday when the IPL 2023 heads to Jaipur for the first time this term for the clash between the Rajasthan Royals and the Lucknow Super Giants.
Four wins from five have given Rajasthan the early ascendency in the standings while three big wins from their first five matches have the Super Giants in a decent place to build from over the last two-thirds of the competition.
Rajasthan Royals
Sometimes when a team is beaten in the final of a tournament they can struggle the following season because that disappointment still lingers within them but that isn’t the case with the Rajasthan Royals. They have used that feeling as motivation to come out firing this term and look like the team to beat at the minute. The big thing for the Royals was in the main they kept the players who were important to them last season so they have had that continuity.
Rajasthan have been imperious with the bat so far this season. They have accrued at least 175 runs every time they have played and with the exception of the win over Chennai which got a little tight, their wins have been relatively comfortable. If there is a concern it is when the pitches don’t suit their spinners their bowling can sometimes go the distance a little. There isn’t a huge amount of depth in the seam department which might catch them out at some point too.
Lucknow Super Giants
The Lucknow Super Giants have made an acceptable beginning to their season without anything overly spectacular in terms of their overall record. Whenever a team is in a positive for their overall ledger they are never in a bad position in this competition but it will only need a couple of sloppy displays and Lucknow could be in trouble. One issue they might need to solve at some point is the sluggish nature of their pitches hampering them.
Lucknow have batted well this season. You would expect that though because they have a daunting top five. Three times in their five matches they have scored 190 or more and that is very much a positive in what is one of the highest scoring IPL seasons to date. They have two gun bowlers in Mark Wood and Ravi Bishnoi but if they don’t get wickets you fear for the rest of the Lucknow attack, each of whom are going at more than eight an over.
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Key Players
Shimron Hetmyer is closing in on 200 runs for the tournament, which when you consider how low he bats in this Rajasthan Royals side is no mean effort. He is the one who propels a good score to a special one but can polish off a run chase too.
Mark Wood is the leading wicket taker in the tournament and you would imagine if the Lucknow Super Giants are going to win this match then they will need their relentless pace star to take a couple of early scalps.
Betting
Jaipur is usually a very high scoring ground and in the opening match of the tournament here I’m not expecting to see any different in this one. I wouldn’t expect that whoever was playing but when you look at the ability of the top sixes on show here it is hard to see this one not being another match full of runs and in particular full of boundaries. The outfield here is usually lightning fast and these two sides explode into life right at the top of the innings.
The boundaries line for this contest is 42.5 which feels quite low based on what we’ve seen in this tournament, especially with the impact player where teams can play the extra batter and keep batting at full pelt right through the 20 overs unless they make a complete mess of it at the top. These two sides rarely do that with the quality on offer to them and I don’t see them doing it here. I like the over on that boundary line.
Tips
Back Over 42.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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