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Average 1t inns score is 190+ at Bangalore this season
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Faf du Plessis in excellent form for RCB
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Varun Chakravarthy is 9/2 to be top bowler
Wednesday April 26 15:00
TV: Live on Sky Sports
RCB Team News
RCB are now into fifth with four wins from seven matches after a fine win against Rajasthan on Sunday.
Faf du Plessis, now the Purple Cap holder, hit a fine 62 off 39, that was matched by Glenn Maxwell's 77 off 44.
Those two knocks made up the bulk of their 189/9 which was just about defended in the end, as they won by seven runs.
Virat Kohli was out first ball. Some would suggest that wasn't a bad result for RCB given his strike rate for the season but either way, what he didn't do with the bat, he did in the field.
The former India and RCB skipper took two important catches and executed a brilliant run out to dismiss the dangerous Shimron Hetmyer. With just one stump to aim at he hit the bullseye in one of the key moments of the match.
With the ball, Harshal Patel was good with figures of 3-32 off four. Hasaranga did his bit too but doesn't look at his best quite yet.
David Willey should keep his place after a good spell of 1-26 off four. Du Plessis still looks unable to field, so Kohli will continue with captaincy duties.
Possible XI Kohli, du Plessis, Ahmed, Maxwell, Lomror, Karthik, Willey, Hasaranga, Patel, Vyshak, Siraj.
KKR Team news
A bad day in the field cost KKR dearly. Conceding 235-4 against CSK is always going to leave you up against it and so it proved.
The only bowler to come out with any credit was young spinner Suyash Sharma (1-29) with everyone else having economy rates in double figures. Andre Russell's sole over went for 17 while David Wiese, making his KKR debut, conceded 38 off three. It was that sort of day.
In reply, the chase was pretty much dead once the two openers were out for one and zero respectively.
Jason Roy, batting out of position at five made a superb 61 off 26 and the ever-improving Rinku Singh was good for 53 off 33 but the chase never looked on.
Right now, they're looking a rather disjointed team and it would be a major surprise if they made the playoffs.
Possible XI Jagadeesan, Roy, V Iyer, Rana, Rinku, Russell, Wise, Narine, Yadav, Chakravarthy, Sharma.
Pitch report
We're at Bangalore and you know what that means: big runs.
Here are the first innings totals this year so far: 171/7, 212/2, 174/6, 226/6 and 189/9.
That's a first innings average of 194.
Interestingly, three of those five were won by the side batting first. Long-term stats, however, show that 59% of matches are won by the chaser here.
Still, there's no guarantee the skipper winning the toss will want to chase. Getting 200+ runs on the board first up and letting scoreboard pressure do the rest isn't a bad ploy.
How to play
That RCB 1.845/6 are generally poor favourites, we all know. But they've been decent so far this season and, with Faf in superb form, should be respected at a ground they know well. Particularly since KKR have been wildly inconsistent so far this season.
KKR's best chance might be in chase of anything under 200 because they don't look to have the bowling resources to keep things tight defending.
The best betting strategy might be to hope RCB field first, that KKR get off to a flyer and that RCB drift to odds-against, before attempting to chase 195-200.
But if it's KKR left to chase a monster score, a trade could be on, too. No bowling side is ever safe defending at this ground.
Both teams to score 190+
We really, really should have picked up a 6/1 winner last week when RCB hosted CSK here and we had both sides to score 180+ with RCB winning.
The first part of the bet won easily but RCB failed to get over the line after trading as favourites during the chase.
The very same bet is available at the same price ahead of this one but it may be a slight case of 'once bitten twice shy'.
The 190+ runs part should be the easier of the two to land but KKR, with plenty of boundary hitters, shouldn't be dismissed in a tough chase.
That they got to 186 after losing their openers for one run on Sunday and with that Rinku Singh heist still in the memory bank, suggests they have it in them to pull off another big chase.
So at 7/2 we'll go for just the first half of that wager: that both teams score 190 or more runs.
Overpriced KKR bowler
The pricing up of the KKR Sportsbook top bowler market provides an opportunity.
Favourites Lockie Ferguson and Shardul Thakur (10/3) are unlikely to play; the former has often been left out, the latter is injured.
Umesh Yadav 4/1 has just one wicket in seven games. Narine (also 4/1) has six wickets in seven games.
Andre Russell 9/2 has bowled just five overs in seven games.
Also at 9/2, you can back the man who's leading the way for most wickets (10 in seven) and who boasts the best strike rate (15.4) of anyone who has bowled more than six overs. Varun Chakravarthy, it is then.