IPL Cricket Betting: Kolkata Knight Riders v Royal Challengers Bangalore

Match Previews / Edward Hammond-Kenny / 13 March 2010 / 1 Comments

Jacques Kallis is Bangalore's main man

"Kolkata have the momentum following their win on Friday, but the reality is that was a game that Deccan threw away. Last year’s runners up, Bangalore, will once again attempt to rely on solid team performances to grind the opposition down."

Fresh from beating the Deccan Chargers, the Kolkata Knight Riders will be keen to make it two from two when they face last year's beaten finalists Bangalore. But taking on the South African trio of Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher and Dale Steyn won't be easy, says Edward Hammond-Kenny.

Venue and Conditions

The Kolkata Knight Riders will be playing all their home games at the imposing cauldron of Eden Gardens. The completed 1st innings scores at this venue during IPL 1 were generally on the low side (just over 140 on average), though the highest scoring game here saw Kolkata knock off 175 against Punjab. The most recent ODI in late December saw India comfortably chase down 315 against Sri Lanka, so hopefully the pitch will be slightly more conducive to batting this time around.

Team News

Kolkata's win against Deccan was largely due to their overseas talent as Owais Shah and Angelo Mathews both struck 50s while Charl Langeveldt was the pick of their bowling, picking up two wickets while going for only 6.5 runs per over. Expect to see the same overseas players in action again, with Mendis missing out once more.

Bangalore are missing heavyweights Kevin Pietersen, Ross Taylor and Cameron White, but in Eoin Morgan they have signed a potential match winner, who is in great form. The South African trident of Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher and Dale Steyn should make up the other overseas places though Steyn, by his own high standards, has struggled to impose himself in this competition so far.

Match Odds

The market cannot split the two teams at the moment, and it's more than possible they'll go off at evens the pair. Kolkata have the momentum following their win on Friday, but the reality is that was a game that Deccan threw away. Last year's runners up, Bangalore, will once again attempt to rely on solid team performances to grind the opposition down. A point to note is that the outright winner market says that Bangalore at [6.6] are shorter in the betting to win the event than Kolkata ([8.0]), so if you're looking for a tie breaker, that might be the sign you need to back Bangalore.

Top Batsman

Kolkata have some issues at the top of their order with Manoj Tiwary and Sourav Ganguly failing in game one, so Owais Shah will likely get the opportunity to have plenty of time in the middle and should be the pick.

For Bangalore Kallis will look to bat time and has to be in considered, but one of the form players in their line up is Virat Kohli, who has been one of the most consistent performers in the Indian ODI team the last 6 months.

Featured Market

Both Kallis and Kohli cleared the rope eight times in IPL 2, but Brad Hodge hit nine sixes while Shah and especially Angelo Mathews are regular maximum hitters. A dabble on Kolkata for most sixes looks to make sense.

Trivia

Anil Kumble had the best bowling figures of IPL 2 with an incredible spell of 5 for 5 against Rajasthan.

Comments (1)

1. hardik | 15 March 2010

   hello if i want to bet on ipl what is the procedure .