THURSDAY IPL: Our cricket tipster The Edge previews Thursday’s double header – IPL Game 53 Chennai Super Kings v Punjab Kings and IPL Game 54 Kolkata Knight Riders v Rajasthan Royals both with a recommended BETDAQ bet.

IPL Game 53 Chennai Super Kings v Punjab Kings

MATCH OVERVIEW:

What a huge day at the Indian Premier League on Thursday! We have a massive double header on BETDAQ Betting Exchange and there’s lots to decide looking at the table. We start at 11am with Chennai Super Kings taking on Punjab Kings at Dubai before moving to Sharjah for Kolkata Knight Riders against Rajasthan Royals. This will be the final game for both these sides, and the biggest question here is can CSK hold onto third place? Even with a win it looks highly unlikely that Punjab Kings will make the last Playoff spot.

It’s fair to say that Mumbai Indians win over Rajasthan Royals changed the whole outlook of the race for the Playoffs on Tuesday! There’s a lot of pressure games over the next two days and I can’t wait. It would be very unfortunate for CSK if they lost here and dropped out of the top two spots. They have been excellent throughout the tournament, but they are finishing badly. The batting failed against Delhi Capitals to only post 136/5 and the bowling failed against Rajasthan Royals to let them chase down 189/4 – the highest score posted in the UAE stint and I’m sure at half-time nobody thought it would be chased down, and they did it with 15 balls to spare!

CSK have always dealt well with the pressure moments, especially with MS Dhoni as captain. A nothing to lose game might just suit the Punjab Kings hitters however – they are such a hit-and-miss side, but with no pressure they just might perform to their top level. An interesting game to start the day.

WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:

Before CSK posted the 189/4 in Abu Dhabi, it was this ground at Dubai that had the highest scores. Batting has looked a little easier here than at the other grounds and you would expect another decent score today. CSK did only manage 136/5 here in their last game against Delhi and Delhi did make hard work of chasing. In the game before that, Sunrisers Hyderabad scored 115/8 but they have been the whipping boys of the tournament. With this being a day game I wouldn’t have a set view on the pitch, but I would be worried about it being slow and low – it’s getting close to the T20 World Cup and they’ll want to keep fresh wickets for that and the IPL Playoffs too.

RECOMMENDED BET:

This is a very interesting market. CSK are pretty heavy favourites trading at 1.64, but they have played bad cricket over their last two games. There’s no doubt that they are the better side here and have a lot more class than Punjab Kings, but the thing about Punjab is they can be superb and they can be all out for 100. In the Indian leg of the tournament; they had the highest and lowest score – that’s just them! They finished the tournament strongly last season when they looked like they had nothing to play for, and they nothing to play for here too. I think we’ll see a good display from Punjab today and all the pressure is on CSK. I feel Punjab are the value here at 2.44.

The Edge Says:
One point win Punjab Kings to beat Chennai Super Kings at 2.44 with BETDAQ Betting Exchange

View the market here -> https://bit.ly/BDQCskPnb

IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:

Over the last few games here the side chasing has definitely seemed to have a little edge. Perhaps it was a case of the team batting first aiming too high and falling short. With this being a day game, I would lean towards batting first offering a slight edge, but of course teams will have to target a good score rather than start looking for 180+ and end up collapsing in a heap. CSK bowled very poorly against Rajasthan, but there was a lot of dew that night, there will be no dew here and I would expect the bowlers to be largely on top for most of the game here – targeting trades on both bowling attacks will be the way forward.

IPL Game 54 Kolkata Knight Riders v Rajasthan Royals

MATCH OVERVIEW:

We move over to Sharjah for a crunch game as Kolkata Knight Riders take on Rajasthan Royals. There has been a huge amount of debate around the wicket in Sharjah – that Rajasthan Royals v Mumbai Indians game here was a farce given how bad the wicket was playing; but Sharjah fans will say Mumbai chased down the score in less than ten overs so what can we do. In my opinion, it nice to see some slow pitches and spin because it changes things up a bit – nobody wants the batters to dominate all the time but Sharjah has been almost too favourable to the bowlers this season. As always, it’s never great when conditions favour batting or bowling too much in one direction.

That leaves us with a huge game here that could be decided by conditions rather than class on field which isn’t a great situation to be in. No doubt Rajasthan Royals will feel hard done by with the Mumbai game, but it’s the same conditions for both sides as they say! With that heavy defeat to Mumbai, Rajasthan Royals basically have no chances of qualifying for the Playoffs – that game actually changed everything in the table and now KKR are under pressure to win this game because Mumbai can catch them tomorrow! Despite the tricky batting conditions, this should actually be a fascinating game. I can’t wait to see how the batsmen deal with the conditions, but hopefully we don’t see any scores under 100.

WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:

As I mentioned above, so much has been made about the wicket here. After the blowback from the last game here I would expect the groundsmen to try and improve conditions, some Twitter accounts were even saying to remove the Playoffs from here. One wonders are they keeping the fresh wickets for the T20 World Cup; so I wouldn’t expect conditions to improve dramatically here. I would favour the bowling side first because if conditions are very tough again, the market will move because of the low score and chasing is easier with the dew and short boundaries. It could be a massive toss to win.

RECOMMENDED BET:

This is definitely a game for small stakes given the situation with the wicket. Ideally I would like to get on the team bowling first, so that will actually be my recommended bet. I know KKR have been excellent in the UAE but they feel too short here at 1.63 as the batting conditions will likely bring the sides closer together. KKR have the much better side and Rajasthan look weak on paper, but any side can collapse here. As I said, I fancy the side bowling first to have the edge here and that’s what I’m happy to recommended.

The Edge Says:
Two points win ‘The Team Who Bowls First.’ with BETDAQ Betting Exchange

View the market here -> https://bit.ly/BDQKkrRja

IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:

Because I have such a strong fancy for the team who bowls first, my aim in-running strategy will likely be focused around that. Of course I want to see how the wicket is playing too and I will take the first three overs to see is it just as bad as the other day. Even if we have an improved wicket, it’s likely the team batting first will take their time because they will be expecting very tough batting conditions, so there’s a lot of ways the chasing side can win here. The big hitters might not do well either if the ball is spinning, and I’d be happy to take on the better known six hitters as the market might overrate them.