SUNDAY IPL: The Edge previews Lucknow Super Giants v Kolkata Knight Riders with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
Lucknow Super Giants v Kolkata Knight Riders
MATCH OVERVIEW:
The pressure is on at the IPL on Sunday as we have a bottom of the table clash on Betdaq Betting Exchange ! Lucknow Super Giants host Kolkata Knight Riders and it’s been a miserable start to the IPL for both sides. This is an absolute must win game for both given you can make a very strong case that Sunday represents the last chance for both franchises to start a winning run if they harbour any realistic playoff ambitions. They will very likely both miss out, but a loss here basically ends the season in terms of achieving anything and as we all know, it becomes a very long IPL season then.
Obviously with both sides taking up the bottom two spots in the table, there hasn’t been many positives. Lucknow have won just two from seven games this season, and the mood around the camp must be bleak after a run of four defeats. They have been hammered too really; their net run rate of -1.277 is the worst in the competition. Their batting has been the central issue, their middle order has been brutally exposed when Rishabh Pant – the most expensive player in IPL history – hasn’t fired. Nicholas Pooran is having a genuinely dire season, most cricket fans are saying he’s “gone at the game” – it’s never that bad, but obviously he’s having a nightmare. Pant has admitted he is backing him regardless of form. That loyalty is admirable but the returns have not been there.
As bad as things have been for Lucknow, KKR sit below them. Their run rate is better, but they’ve been hammered a lot too. After five defeats and a washout from their first six games, Kolkata finally broke their winless streak with a dramatic four wicket victory over Rajasthan Royals at Eden Gardens. You could say they come into this game on a high now given they’ve had nothing else to cheer! Their bowling has been a huge issue – interesting to see who wins here between the Lucknow batting and the KKR bowling!
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
Lucknow is one of the more tactical venues in the IPL, and it plays very differently to the high scoring grounds we’ve been seeing at the like of the Wankhede and Eden Gardens for example. This is a slow surface that grips and turns as the game progresses, the boundaries are larger than other IPL grounds too, and in general life has been tougher for the batting here. The first inning scores have been 141 all out (chased), 164/8 (chased) and 159/6 (won). We tend to not get a heavy dew here, and possibly that is a big factor to getting some spin but in general you don’t go into games here expecting a high score.
RECOMMENDED BET:
This is a very difficult game to call given the miserable form of both sides, and you’d be forgiven for not having confidence in either side! However, there are a couple of factors that give me a slight lean towards KKR here – obviously they finally won a game last time out and have that monkey off their back, their batting has clearly been better than Lucknow and that is a positive on a ground that’s difficult to bat on. Their bowling is the obvious worry of course, but with conditions giving a slight edge to the bowlers over the batters, I think they might get away with their weakness here. KKR’s spin duo of Narine and Chakravarthy should relish these conditions if they are on song. Lucknow have been so poor, I do feel the 1.96 on KKR looks good value.
The Edge Says:
Two points win Kolkata Knight Riders to beat Lucknow Super Giants at 1.96 with Betdaq Betting Exchange
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/PLLuKo
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
As I mentioned above, Lucknow is a very different proposition to some of the high scoring venues we’ve been seeing in the UPL The slower surface and larger boundaries mean the in-running trading isn’t just a case of when to support the batters and basically staying away from the bowlers! Obviously you have to watch closely for dew, but we don’t usually get a heavy dew here. I said above that it will be interesting to see who wins the battle between the Lucknow batting and the KKR bowling – I feel the KKR bowling will edge that, and I feel that’s where we’ll see most market movement.
