WEDNESDAY IPL: The Edge previews Kolkata Knight Riders v Mumbai Indians with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
Kolkata Knight Riders v Mumbai Indians
MATCH OVERVIEW:
The IPL continues on Wednesday as Kolkata Knight Riders host Mumbai Indians at the iconic Eden Gardens on Betdaq Betting Exchange . This is an interesting game between two of the biggest franchises in the IPL, but unfortunately they’ve both had poor seasons this time around. Both sides are out of the running for the playoffs – Mumbai Indians were officially eliminated over the weekend, and while KKR are still alive – just – but they absolutely have to win both of their remaining games and need a whole host of other results to go their way. Basically, the run of results won’t happen realistically, and even at 15 points they would be relying on the maths to fall perfectly given their poor NRR of -0.038.
KKR’s season has been a curious one. They looked utterly hopeless for the first half of the campaign – a string of defeats, Cameron Green contributing little, their star bowling recruits either injured or absent. They lost five of their opening six, with the other being a washout. But they quietly found their form mid-season with four wins in a row that breathed life into their campaign, and then last Saturday they put in one of the performances of the season – Finn Allen smashing an extraordinary 93 off just 35 balls. They’ve now won five of their last six, and firmly have the momentum on their side.
Mumbai Indians’ season has been an utter disaster. The five-time champions, widely touted as title contenders before a ball was bowled, have managed just four wins from twelve games. They could easily finish bottom again. Jasprit Bumrah has endured his worst IPL campaign by some distance. While we have two obviously limited sides here, you have to say we have a fascinating game coming up.
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
Eden Gardens is a cracking place for cricket. It’s turned into one of the highest scoring grounds in IPL in recent years – remember it used to offer a lot of spin back in the day; that’s not really the case now. The wicket is generally flat, and the square boundaries are around 63-64 metres, which is short, and the straight is 73 metres. High scores have been the norm here this season – the first inning scores have been 226/8 (won), 181/4 (chased), 155/9 (chased) and 247/2 (won). The dew factor is important, but this is another game where I’d expect very good scoring conditions and the batters to be on top.
RECOMMENDED BET:
I was surprised to see Mumbai as the favourites when I clicked into the market here. Obviously they are one of the biggest IPL franchises, and at times they do get over-backed. I’ve already pointed this out this season, but once again I’m happy to be against Mumbai – I just can’t have them as the favourites here. I know they have some star names on their team sheet, but as I said above, Bumrah is having a terrible season. KKR might have had a slow start, but they have all the momentum now and their batting has been on fire recently. I’m happy to side with KKR here at the odds.
The Edge Says:
One point win Kolkata Knight Riders to beat Mumbai Indians at 2.06 with Betdaq Betting Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/IPKoMu
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
The Eden Gardens surface is generally very batter friendly these days, and we’ve already had some very big scores here this season. Obviously it’s easy to pick holes in both sides – KKR were poor at the start of the tournament and Mumbai have been woeful at times too. It’s likely they will finish bottom of the table. However, they should both get very good batting conditions and you’d have to expect a high scoring game – obviously they are both open to a collapse, but this is a ground where you want to support the batters rather than the bowlers.
