Kolkata finished top of the table with nine wins from 14 matches, while Hyderabad were just one win behind them and snuck into second during yesterday’s action when they beat Punjab and Rajasthan had their final group fixture washed out.
Sunrisers have benefitted from Rajasthan falling off a cliff lately and have pinched second spot in the table. A reminder, the top two teams get a second chance in the finals.
The winner of this Qualifier One clash advances directly to Sunday’s final. The loser plays again later in the week for another bite at that said cherry.
I’ll be honest, I’m going to swerve picking a winner here. Many bookmakers have the pair at 10/11, and picking a winner, you’d just be guessing. Both of these teams are so evenly matched.
Instead, I’ll be looking for value elsewhere.
Devastating duo set to produce fireworks
Take a look at the highest team totals in this season’s competition, and it’s a Kolkata and Hyderabad lockout for the top four. The former has a 272-7 to their name, while the latter has scores of 287-3, 277-3 and 266-7 under their belt.
Both teams have topped 200 in six of their 14 matches.
With that in mind, you have to expect a batter-dominated, high-scoring affair.
I like betway’s 1/1 on three batters to score half-centuries in the match. There’s more than enough quality on show across both teams for that to happen.
I also like betfair’s #OddsOnThat combination of 400 plus runs in the match, 14 plus sixes to be hit and a combined total of 110 runs or more in the respective six-over powerplays. That’s available at 11/10.
With big runs comes the chance of a few wickets. I previewed Kolkata’s final group game against Rajasthan the other day, which ended up being rained off, and pushed the success of their in-form spinner Varun Chakravarthy.
His 18 wickets so far makes him the most successful spinner in this season’s IPL, and Ladbrokes have him at 6/4 to take over 1.5 wickets here.
I will come back to him in a moment with a long-shot bet. But for now, I wanted to have a look at his opposing powerhouses with the bat.
Sunrisers duo Travis Head and Heinrich Klaasen have hit 64 sixes between them in this competition, Head 31 and Klaasen 33. Betway are offering an enticing 11/5 on both men to hit two sixes apiece in this clash. I’d be taking that on.
And, finally, back to Chakravarthy, who is in excellent form as aforementioned. He has taken two three-wicket hauls and two two-wicket hauls in his last four matches.
It surprises me somewhat that you can get 8/1 with bet365 on him to take three wickets in this fixture. I would be looking at a low stakes approach on this bet, but it’s certainly one which is worth taking on.
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