INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE: Our cricket tipster The Edge previews Sunday’s IPL Double Header – Royal Challengers Bangalore v Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals v Mumbai Indians both with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
The Edge has been a professional cricket trader for over 12 years, and we are delighted to have his columns on BETDAQ Tips. He provides his best bets on a points scale between 1 and 5, with 5 being a rare max bet.
Because we see so much action in-running on cricket, he will also provide some in-running strategies that could develop in-play and lead to some excellent value bets. The Edge covers all forms of cricket: Test Matches, ODI’s and T20’s but his favourite competition is the Indian Premier League each season.
Royal Challengers Bangalore v Chennai Super Kings
MATCH OVERVIEW:
We have another excellent day of IPL double header action on Sunday and we start the day with Royal Challengers Bangalore taking on Chennai Super Kings! It’s been a tournament to forget for CSK this year and things have gone from bad to worse. They have been heavily beaten in their last two games, only managing 125/5 against Rajasthan and then 114/9 against Mumbai at Sharjah. They are nailed to the bottom and it doesn’t look like they will turn things around soon.
It’s been a completely different tournament for RCB however, and they started the weekend on the same amount of points as Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals after ten games. They had a tournament like CSK last season, but they have really benefitted from moving away from their home ground and their stars are firing too. They need to push for a top two spot as that will make a massive difference in the Playoffs for them.
Given how poor CSK have been, RCB will see this as a great chance to win and realistically if they want to push for a top two spot they need to win games like this. Nobody appears to be in-form for CSK!
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
With this being a day game, we won’t have any dew so that should make life a little easier for the bowlers. CSK have been really poor with the bat, so while I wouldn’t rely on them to post a score, it looks like the team batting first should be aiming for 170 here. Batting first has been an advantage here, but we have seen a lot of successful chases recently. RCB chases down 177/6 from Rajasthan for example. Thankfully, we’re set fair with the weather which has been excellent in the UAE.
RECOMMENDED BET:
RCB are big favourites here and so they should be. Mumbai were more or less than same price against CSK on Friday, and they had the game wrapped up very early. I don’t know what’s going on with CSK at the moment, but it isn’t anything good. The CSK batting has been particularly bad and with RCB in excellent form and full of confidence, I’m happy to take the 1.67 on the RCB win.
The Edge Says:
Two points win Royal Challengers Bangalore to beat Chennai Super Kings at 1.67 on BETDAQ Betting Exchange
View the market here -> http://bit.ly/BDQRcbCsk
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
CSK have been involved in some very quick markets on BETDAQ Betting Exchange, mainly because they have been so bad the game is over quickly! I wouldn’t be keen to support their batting at all. Indeed, you’d want to be on RCB while CSK are batting. Their openers have gone OK at times, but Dhoni isn’t the finisher he once was and the rest of the middle order just aren’t good enough. It’s hard to see where the runs can come from at the moment, to be honest.
There has been a change in batting recently at Dubai, with more successful chases, so while it was an advantage to bat first early in the tournament I wouldn’t be just jumping on the team batting first now. I would also be keen to be against the RCB lower order if it got to the stage where de Villiers got out after Kohli had already gone. CSK bowling isn’t great either, but that might be a spot to get a few ticks on a quick trade. Personally though, I wouldn’t stay on CSK for long as they look completely untrustworthy with the bat at the moment – a wicket is never far away.
Rajasthan Royals v Mumbai Indians
MATCH OVERVIEW:
We finish another big weekend of IPL action with Rajasthan Royals taking on Mumbai Indians in Abu Dhabi. Mumbai Indians have been very difficult to beat here, indeed they have performed superbly in every game since losing to CSK on the opening day. It’s hard to believe they lost to CSK, looking at the sides now! Rajasthan are one of the teams chasing that fourth Playoff spot, and they are on the back foot.
Rajasthan have a poor net run rate, so they are at a disadvantage even if they catch up with KKR, and they had also played one extra game to KKR, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab before the start of this double header weekend. It looks like their Playoff chances are gone, but they won’t have given up yet.
Mumbai Indians have been excellent in this tournament. They look really strong. They easily brushed aside CSK the other day, and their batting and bowling look in great touch. In the league table, it says they have won seven and lost three, but they’ve only actually lost one game in 20 overs. The other two losses have come in Super Overs, when they have actually played a very good game.
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
We can see that the wickets are slowing down in the UAE now, and perhaps Abu Dhabi could be the toughest place to bat for the end of the tournament. That being said, the Sharjah track looks pretty dry now! Apart from the CSK innings here the other day, we have seen consistent scores of around 160. The 190+ that Mumbai were scoring early on here was very impressive – especially looking at ground history. But I’d say you’d want to bat first and try score 165. Once again we’re set fair with the weather.
RECOMMENDED BET:
I like Mumbai here at 1.75. I haven’t been a fan of Rajasthan for the whole tournament, although it was nice to land a bet on them against CSK though. I wouldn’t read too much into that as CSK have been so poor, and I can’t see the Rajasthan batting standing up to the Mumbai bowling here. The Mumbai batting has been excellent too, and they have played really well at this ground. Stokes hasn’t really improved Rajasthan, although he does have the ability to win a game on his own. For me though it’s Mumbai all the way here.
The Edge Says:
Two points win Mumbai Indians to beat Rajasthan Royals at 1.75 on BETDAQ Betting Exchange
View the market here -> http://bit.ly/BDQRajMmb
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
I would definitely want to bat first here given the wickets are slowing down. However, I would still fancy Mumbai to chase given their batting is stronger than Rajasthan. If Mumbai batted first I would be very confident on them. The Rajasthan bowlers have been poor outside of Archer, and the shrewd move is to see of Archer and attack the others. Mumbai have the big six hitters to do this late on.
I would also be happy to be against the mid-to-lower order of Rajasthan who just haven’t fired this season. As we seen with RCB chasing the 177/6 Rajasthan set recently, their bowlers are there to be hit. Of course, de Villiers had a great innings but there’s a lot of talent in this Mumbai side too.
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