The second half of the double header in the Indian Premier League will take us back to Jaipur for the clash between two sides who begin the second half of their IPL 2025 season when the Rajasthan Royals take on the Lucknow Super Giants.
Rajasthan didn’t have the first half of the season that they would have wanted so they will be looking for a much better time of it from here on in whereas Lucknow are nicely placed and will be hoping to kick on from here.
Rajasthan Royals
It is two wins from their opening seven matches for the Rajasthan Royals and you just get the impression that they are a side looking for their best combinations and haven’t really found them yet hence the inconsistency that they have shown so far. They haven’t really been able to put together a batting order which has shown confidence throughout an innings and their bowlers haven’t really turned up too often either which doesn’t help them.
You wonder if not beating the Delhi Capitals from a winning position in the last match will come back to haunt them. They had that match there to be won but couldn’t get over the line and went down in a super over. Rajasthan certainly need their bowlers to come to the party if they are going to go on a run for the remainder of this competition but they also need to finish their innings better when they have the bat in hand too.
Lucknow Super Giants
The Lucknow Super Giants don’t have any of those concerns. They have four wins from their opening seven matches and if they can replicate that in their second half of the campaign then they will qualify for the finals and give themselves a shot at winning this title for the first time. Lucknow were beaten in their last match though and they might think that they have a bit to prove as a result of that. They didn’t really impose themselves on that contest which will have disappointed them.
Lucknow have been one of the better teams with the bat this season and when they impose themselves on the bowling and get off to fast starts then they can be daunting to the opponent and be a very tough nut to crack. That is the task in hand for them for the remainder of the season, to make sure they keep dominating the game with the bat. You would imagine that the longer the campaign goes on the more effective their bowling will be too which is no bad thing.
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Key Players
There is a fitness doubt over Sanju Samson after he retired hurt in the previous match against Delhi but the Rajasthan Royals could really do with their captain being fit and coming out firing with the bat and set the tone for the evening.
Mitchell Marsh has been the pacesetter for the Lucknow Super Giants this season and will begin the day as the third top run scorer in the competition. They will be hoping that he can fire them into life from the get go in this one.
Betting
A week or so ago I would have had no second thoughts about backing the Lucknow Super Giants to win this match and potentially win it well but they have just halted my enthusiasm in them with that under par performance against the Chennai Super Kings, while maybe equally as importantly Yashasvi Jaiswal has found some form for the Rajasthan Royals which would be another thing that puts me off of the visitors in this contest.
One thing which hasn’t changed though is my belief that Lucknow matches are going to contain plenty of sixes. Lucknow have six hitters right through their line up and one of those in Rishabh Pant came good in the previous game. Rajasthan certainly aren’t short of six hitters themselves so I expect them to flow quite regularly here. Both bowling units are built with a fair bit of spin in mind but there is expected to be plenty of dew here which might not help their cause. Lucknow have hit 77 sixes in seven innings at an average of 11 per game whereas Rajasthan have hit 68 in seven at just under 10 per game. On a average match we should see 20 sixes between these two based on what we’ve seen so far so over 16.5 of them feels a good play here.
Tips
Back Over 16.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
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