THE EDGE: The Edge previews Sunday’s IPL clash between Mumbai Indians v Kolkata Knight Riders with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
Lucknow Super Giants v Kolkata Knight Riders
MATCH OVERVIEW:
We have a massive IPL double header on Betdaq Betting Exchange this Sunday, but all the focus will be on the huge clash between Lucknow Super Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders. Both sides beat Mumbai Indians this week and they are in a great position in the race to the playoffs as they start this game sitting in second and third. We have landed two five star NAP’s on these sides this week, so hopefully we can now find the winner between them! It’s been an incredibly high scoring IPL this year, but did we see the first signs of the wickets slowing down over the last few days?
KKR managed to defend 169 on Friday and then Lucknow only needed to chase 144/7. Of course, we did see a game with 401 runs on Thursday but the game in Chennai wasn’t very high scoring. These two sides have been playing high quality cricket, and it will be interesting to see who comes out on top. KKR defending 169 will be a huge boost for their bowlers who have really struggled at times this season – their batting has definitely carried them up until now. In fairness, their bowling went well against Delhi on Monday as well, so it’s been an excellent week for the KKR bowlers after conceding an incredible amount of runs!
Lucknow have ticked a lot of boxes this tournament too. We have had some incredible moments; Marcus Stoinis chasing down that score in Chennai will be an IPL iconic moment in years to come. Their bowling is probably their weak points, but overall they are a very solid side – you do get the feeling that they need a good start with the bat but they have so much quality at the top of their order that hasn’t been a problem. This game will probably decide who finishes second, so plenty to play for.
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
Up until this week you would have had a very profitable tournament just blindly backing overs in the runs market – I think this week things have started to change though. We’re used to Indian wickets slowing down as the tournament goes on, and I would keep an open mind over the next few days. Lucknow has historically been a slower and lower wicket compared to other IPL grounds – the scores have been pretty high, in keeping with the general IPL theme this season! The first inning scores have been 199/8 (won), 163/5 (won), 167/7 (chased), 176/6 (chased), 196/5 (chased) and 144/7 (chased). It seems you want to bowl first here lately!
RECOMMENDED BET:
We have an interesting market here; KKR are decent favourites at 1.84. I’m a huge fan of both sides – as I mentioned above we landed five star NAPs on both sides this week. Both sides have exceptional batting, and while their bowling is their weak point their batters have been able to give their bowling units a lot to work with. I went into this game thinking this is a 50/50 game and when I look at everything I haven’t changed my mind. I think we’ll have a high quality game of cricket here, and I feel a small bet on Lucknow at 2.14 is a nice position from a value point of view.
The Edge Says:
One point win Lucknow Super Giants to beat Kolkata Knight Riders at 2.14 on Betdaq Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/LucKol
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
As I said above, I would go into this game with an open mind scoring wise. Scores have been good here, which isn’t the norm at this ground anyway – last year was pretty low scoring here, especially compared to other grounds. So far here this season, you definitely want to bowl first and that could easily be the difference in a close game. I would lean towards supporting both batting sides – however the KKR bowling unit seems to have finally hit form this week so I wouldn’t want to take them on from the start here. We saw them concede some massive scores but they have done really well this week. I feel we’ll see plenty of flip-flops as the market swings around in a close game.
