WEDNESDAY IPL: The Edge previews Eliminator: Rajasthan Royals v Sunrisers Hyderabad with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
Eliminator: Rajasthan Royals v Sunrisers Hyderabad
MATCH OVERVIEW:
It’s Eliminator time at the IPL on Betdaq Betting Exchange as Rajasthan Royals take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in New Chandigarh on Wednesday! Unlike Qualifier 1 on Tuesday, it’s crunch time here with the loser going home. Rajasthan squeezed into the fourth spot on Sunday with a superb performance against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede. Jofra Archer was the hero with a cracking 32 off 15 balls to help Rajasthan post 205/8, then he removed Rohit Sharma for a duck. It was a man of the match performance at just the right time with all the pressure on. At the start of the tournament Rajasthan looked like they would sail into the playoffs after winning their first four games, but a tough mid-season meant it went to the final game, and now they will be riding on the high of that result coming into Wednesday.
Sunrisers Hyderabad arrive here as the third-placed side, and they will be bitterly disappointed not to have finished in the top two after a superb campaign. They signed off the group stage in stunning fashion – posting 255/4 against RCB. They finished level on points with RCB and Gujarat Titans, only missing out on net run rate. Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma at the top of the order are two of the most explosive openers on the planet, and if they get going on Wednesday, Rajasthan will be in serious trouble from ball one. The Rajasthan bowling has been very hit-and-miss; they can’t afford to miss here!
Jorfa Archer is probably going to be the most important person here. The batting of Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Dhruv Jurel gives them real firepower at the top, but they really need Archer to lead the attack and keep this excellent Sunrisers Hyderabad batting at bay.
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
New Chandigarh is a superb, modern venue and the primary home of Punjab Kings these days. They haven’t had all their home games here, but we are growing the data set. The boundary dimensions are 65–70 metres, and the outfield is quick, which rewards clean striking. Pacers do get something early with the new ball, but once the shine goes the surface generally flattens out nicely for the batters. Apart from the first game of the season here, scores have been high. The first inning scores have been 162/6 (chased), 219/6 (chased), 254/7 (won) and 222/4 (chased). With the likes of 219 and 222 getting chased here, the pressure is on for a big score. If we get a heavy dew, this is going to be a very tricky night for the poor bowlers on both sides, and probably whoever bats first too.
RECOMMENDED BET:
We have a very similar market to the first IPL playoff game on Tuesday here – Sunrisers Hyderabad are the favourites at 1.86 and Rajasthan Royals are 2.12. The market reflects Sunrisers Hyderabad’s quality – it is hard to argue with that on face value. Sunrisers finished third despite having arguably the most explosive batting unit in the entire IPL this season, but in fairness that was only on net run rate. Head and Abhishek are a bullet-train opening pair, Klaasen is one of the most devastating finishers in T20 cricket, and Pat Cummins is an excellent captain who knows what big-match cricket requires. Rajasthan have the big match players too, but they have been too hit-and-miss this IPL overall, and I like the Sunrisers at 1.86 here.
The Edge Says:
Two points win Sunrisers Hyderabad to beat Rajasthan Royals at 1.86 with Betdaq Betting Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/IPSuRa
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
As noted above, the dew factor is going to be the major factor here. If it arrives heavily, as it often does under lights, the chasing side gets a massive boost and you want to be on their batters from ball one of the second innings. Given what we have seen here this season, it’s hard not to see a high scoring game – with 219 and 222 chased here, you don’t want to be on the bowling side for long! The Sunrisers batting line-up in particular in a chase scenario looks perfect to me; it might be a good idea to wait until the innings break though with a high score posted, and then back the chasing side.
