THE EDGE: The Edge previews Monday’s IPL clash between Royal Challengers Bengaluru v Punjab Kings with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru v Punjab Kings
MATCH OVERVIEW:
The IPL continues on Betdaq Betting Exchange with Royal Challengers Bengaluru taking on Punjab Kings to start the week! Although RCB faced a very difficult opening game away to CSK, getting off to a losing start puts them under pressure for their first home game. Punjab Kings got off to a flying start when beating Delhi Capitals, and when you look at the Punjab batting order you’d have to say that the Chinnaswamy will really suit them. This ground is one of the highest scoring grounds in India, and it is tailor made for hitters.
All eyes will be on Virat Kohli too – he returned from a break from cricket in the opening IPL game and he had a shocker too. 21 runs off 20 balls is a match losing innings these days, even more so when you open the batting and you have the powerplay – it was no wonder CSK were able to chase down the score with over an over to spare. A similar innings from Kohli would likely lose this game too – this is a case of go hard or go home. We’ve had plenty of 200+ chases here in IPL history. RCB will have three games at home, and that may not be an advantage. The high scoring nature of the ground means one innings/batter can change the game – I know that applies to any game but it doesn’t take much for a quick 100 here.
Anuj Rawat scored 48 off 25 balls for RCB against CSK; we’ll see plenty of similar strike rates in these conditions. Punjab are packed with power hitters right through their line-up. They might be all out very cheaply a few times this season, but they can go very well here. I wouldn’t be surprised if Punjab had the lowest and highest score by the time this IPL is over looking at their batting!
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
The average run rate here for the last few years is just under 10. That basically puts a par score at 200, and that’s not even allowing for the upper end of the average. We have had some crazy games here, and as I said above it pays to support the batting here rather than supporting the bowlers! Over the last five IPL seasons in India, this has been the highest scoring venue. The only thing worth mentioning is the local forecast isn’t expecting any dew – usually we can see some very, very high scores when there’s dew. It would be a surprise to see a score under 190 here rather than over.
RECOMMENDED BET:
Obviously we have plenty of star batters on show here over the two sides, so I’d expect both sets up batters to dominate the bowlers. From that point of view, I wouldn’t go into the game with a very strong opinion. I do make this a 50/50 game, and I was surprised to see RCB trading as short as 1.81 when I clicked into the market. From a value point of view, I’m happy with Punjab Kings at 2.2 – they have the power hitting in their batting to have success at this ground, but I’m happy to keep stakes small on the opening game here.
The Edge Says:
One point win Punjab Kings to beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru at 2.2 with Betdaq Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/RcbPun
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
Liam Livingstone smashed 38 off 21 balls in his opening game; he tends to go on crazy runs of form and this could be an excellent ground for him. While Jonny Bairstow only managed nine in his opening game, at the top of the order if he gets going it’s going to rain sixes. This is pretty much a ground where you want to be on the batting side most of the time – it doesn’t pay to support either bowling side for long in these conditions. The only negative about supporting both batting sides is the chasing side can be under immense run rate pressure – I would support the side who bats first and then make a plan for the second innings at the innings break.
