IPL GAME 21: Our cricket tipster The Edge previews Monday’s game between Punjab Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders with a recommended BETDAQ bet.

MATCH OVERVIEW:

It’s a new week at the Indian Premier League, and Kolkata Knights Riders will be hoping it’s a new dawn for them as they take on the Punjab Kings in Ahmedabad. This will be the first game here after a couple of weeks at Chennai and Mumbai, and while I was enjoying the games there it’s nice to change venues and see some new conditions. It brings a new challenge to trading, but it’s also the same for everyone else and we can get some very dramatic in-running movements on BETDAQ Betting Exchange.

Eoin Morgan finds himself under immense pressure at KKR after they put in a terrible performance against Rajasthan Royals on Saturday. They only managed 133/9 and Rajasthan have had one of the weaker bowling attacks in the tournament. Some pundits said KKR were “too rigid” in their thinking afterwards but to be honest I find an Eoin Morgan team are unlikely to be too rigid. However that being said, this isn’t the same camp as England and he might be under orders from the owners who are usually heavily involved in the IPL. The jury is out, and one wonders how long he will last as captain if KKR stay bottom of the table without him scoring runs.

Punjab Kings have had their own issues in the tournament. They have had the lowest and the highest score of this IPL – perhaps that sentence best explains them in the sense that they can blow hot or cold. It was nice to land a bet on them at very good odds to beat Mumbai on Thursday, and they do have some excellent batting when they get going. I worry about their bowling however, but it will be interesting to see what kind of conditions we get here.

WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:

This will be the first IPL game at Ahmedabad since it became the World’s Biggest Cricket Stadium, holding six figures. We won’t see that today with Covid19 which is a great shame, but we will have many excellent atmospheres here in the future. It’s difficult to know what to expect score wise without much data to go off. India played England here a lot in their tour and we saw a range of conditions. We had seven games here – the wicket looked almost unplayable in the Test series, but then we got dew in the T20 series and saw some high scores. The scores batting first were: 124/7 (chased), 164/3 (chased), 156/6 (chased), 185/8 and 224/2. Dew is going to be a massive factor here, and do watch out for that.

RECOMMENDED BET:

It’s not a big surprise to see a pretty even market here, and this isn’t a game for big stakes given the predictability of both sides. KKR have some excellent players, but they just aren’t firing while Punjab Kings blow hot and cold at the best of times. I feel Punjab are the value here at 1.91 however, as KKR just look out of form and under pressure. Morgan isn’t scoring and the top order are putting too much pressure on the middle order to perform. Russell can be very dangerous, but he needs to be given a platform and the top order just aren’t doing that. Punjab can fire against this KKR bowling and win the game.

The Edge Says:
One point win Punjab Kings to beat Kolkata Knight Riders at 1.91 with BETDAQ Betting Exchange

View the market here -> http://bit.ly/BDQPunKol

IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:

In the pitch watch section above I highlighted how important dew could be here, and don’t underestimate how much of an impact that can have on the game. I would view having dew as one of my main trading factors here, as you can see what it did to the scoring in the India v England T20 series. If we do indeed have dew then I would look for trades on the batting side and I would also favour the chasing side too. Both sides have been reasonably poor with the ball, so if bowling was tricky with a wet ball then we can expect plenty of mistakes from the bowlers.

From a player point of view, I wouldn’t be keen taking on the Punjab top order but their mid-to-low order is worth taking on. I really feel the top order have to score and once the likes of Chris Gayle are out then they start to struggle in that middle order. The KKR middle order are struggling too, and I’d happily take on Eoin Morgan given the form he’s in at the moment, and probably the KKR openers too if we don’t have a heavy dew and batting isn’t very easy of course!