IPL: Our cricket tipster The Edge previews Friday’s IPL game between Royal Challengers Bangalore v Punjab Kings with a recommended BETDAQ bet.

Royal Challengers Bangalore v Punjab Kings

MATCH OVERVIEW:

It’s Friday the 13th and both IPL teams will be hoping the luck is on their side this afternoon! Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Punjab Kings at the Brabourne Stadium in what should be another good game for trading on BETDAQ Betting Exchange. After losing three games in a row and looking like they could miss out on the Playoffs, RCB have roared back into the Playoff spots with two wins against CSK and Sunrisers Hyderabad. That win last weekend over Sunrisers Hyderabad was very impressive but Virat Kohli continued his poor run of form with a golden duck.

Obviously Kohli takes all the headlines and he is clearly struggling – perhaps he needs a break – but from a RCB point of view everything else is working well. Faf du Plessis is having a superb tournament at the top of the order and with Maxwell and Karthik chipping in these are going well. As always though, there’s always going to be a massive issue for RCB when their stars don’t fire. That is always the worry, but the Playoffs demand big game moments from big players and that is what RCB have. Josh Hazlewood has really improved their bowling too, and you have to say this is excellent chance to make it three wins in a row against the struggling Punjab Kings.

After KKR beat Mumbai, Punjab Kings slipped down to the bottom three and although they haven’t been as bad as the likes of the Mumbai Indians, they have only managed five wins from their eleven games. What I find remarkable about Punjab Kings is that they are always somehow boom or bust – it doesn’t matter who is in their squad or playing XI they always end up with the highest score or lowest score of the tournament. We have had some drama at this IPL so they won’t take those titles, but Punjab are either brilliant or woeful. From that point of view and where RCB are in the table, this is a must win game for RCB.

WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:

RCB have the lowest score of the tournament here when they got bowled out for 68 here. Punjab Kings also collapsed all out for 115 here, but apart from those two games scoring has been very high. I would suggest that this has been the best ground for batting in the tournament, however I know we have had big scores at the Wankhede too. We’ve had four scores over 200 here and another 199/4 from the 13 games here. Given the scoring conditions are so good for the batters, batting first has provided an edge just because of sheer pressure. We have had heavy dew here at times, but the batters in the first innings have benefitted too so I would again opt to bat first.

RECOMMENDED BET:

Both sides have had very bad moments at this ground, so we might see them being cagey at some point. I remember previewing the RCB v Gujarat Titans game here after RCB were bowled out for 68 in the last game here. They scored 170/6 but they were cagey and that lost them the game with Gujarat chasing it down reasonably easily. Given scoring conditions are so good here, you really have to “go for it” from early on. In that sense conditions might suit Punjab Kings because they only know one way to play! I don’t think there’s much between the sides here and while RCB are definitely the better team, I wouldn’t have them as short as 1.88. I’m going to keep stakes small, but Punjab at 2.1 is an appealing bet from a value point of view.

The Edge Says:
One point win Punjab Kings to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore at 2.1 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE

View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/RoyPun

IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:

I have to highlight again how dodgy both sides have been with the bat here, but given the boom-and-dust nature of the two sides you already know it’s wise to keep stakes pretty small. From a trading point of view, I’m not overly keen to get on or against either side when batting or bowling. I feel the best in-play angle here will be to support the side who bats first. I think letting conditions do the work is the way to go here and whoever bats first will have a little edge.