Rajasthan Royals v Lucknow Super Giants IPL Tip: Royals flush down the pan?

Click here Rajasthan Royals v Lucknow Super Giants odds
Tuesday 19 May,15:00
TV: Sky Sports

Rajasthan Royals v Lucknow Super Giants IPL team news

Rajasthan Royals' collapse is not quite on a par with Punjab but four of their six defeats have come in their last five. They are side which look desperately short of batting confidence. They may need to win both of their last two to avoid missing the play-offs.

As stated before their beat by Delhi Capitals, Royals are over-reliant on fast starts from Yas Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Now, they didn't get that against Delhi but Riyan Parag came to the party instead. Alas the soft underbelly of their middle- to lower-order was still exposed.

Royals looked set to bust 220-230 but could only muter 193 as they lost six wickets for 30. Shimron Hetmyer has been ditched for Adam Milne. Nandre Burger is out of favour. Ravi Jadeja is a doubt with injury.

Possible XI: Jaiswal, Suryavanshi, Jurel, Parag, Ferreira, Ravi Singh, Dubey (sub Deshpande), Archer, Milne, Brijesh, Punja

Lucknow Super Giants have won two from their last three and they seem to be enjoying playing without the pressure of having to win. Their play-off hopes ended days ago. They have beaten Chennai and Bangalore and both were characterised by batters hitting without fear.

Josh Inglis' arrival is also credited with an upturn in performances and he has formed a dangerous opening partnership with Mitch Marsh. the batting order, however, is still something of a lottery. Rishabh pant didn't even bat against Chennai last time.

Spinner Digvesh Rathi is in and out of the side and it was interesting that against CSK Lucknow didn't bother to pick a specialist. they used all pace bar four overs from all-rounder Shabaz Ahmed.

Possible XI: Marsh, Inglis (sub Prince), Pooran, Pant, Markram, Samad, Choudhary, Shahbaz, Shami, Mayank, Akash

Rajasthan Royals v Lucknow Super Giants IPL pitch report

There have been 12 night matches played at Jaipur in the last three years. the average run rate is a whopping 10.11. There is a slight bias batting first to second in terms on run rate, too, with 10.08 versus 10.14 respectively. Not surprisingly, eight of the 12 have been won by the chaser.

With the Lucknow batting more reliable with pressure off (and concerns about Royals) it may be wise to focus on them to take advantage of a likely flat track. They are available to play overs at 5/61.84 for 189.5. Four of the last five first innings have busted 200 so a par line on the exchange is likely to be north of the LSG quote.

Rajasthan Royals v Lucknow Super Giants IPL match prediction

Royals are as short as 4/61.67 with Sportsbook but slightly bigger at 1.738/11 (which is 8/111.73) on the Exchange. One could be forgiven for balking at such numbers. The reasons for that are twofold.

Firstly, the Royals' form is woeful. There is a solid chunk of evidence now that the Royals have produced two teams this term. At the start they were one full of energy and bravado, winning the first four. But since a 57-run loss to Sunrisers they have completely lost their way. It is six defeats in eight. They're not far off Lucknow form.

The second reason to consider the Royals bad value is the toss bias. Do we really want to be on such a prohibitively-priced jolly pre-toss only for the flip to go against them? Absolutely not.

There is a bit more science to consider. Royals' greatest strength is the Jaiswal-Sooryavanshi axis. But Lucknow will be confident of splitting them as they boast the best economy in the powerplay and only two teams have a better strike rate.

Rajasthan Royals v Lucknow Super Giants IPL player bets

If you are unconvinced by the argument for the Lucknow wager, then the alternative is to get on Jaiswal runs. He is very much in the zone for runs.

The Lucknow powerplay skill is a negative but if you can look past that then Sportsbook's 2/13.00 that the opener hits a 50 is an option. He is 5/16.00 for top match bat and 13/53.60 for top Royals bat. Sooryavanshi is 11/26.50 and 11/43.75 respectively.

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