Royals to keep the ball rolling at the top

If Match 12 of this seasons Dream11 Indian Premier League between the Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders is anything like the last game involving Rajasthan, then we are in for a treat. The Royals will be looking to go three from three against KKR who are full of confidence following their win against Sunrisers Hyderabad last time out.

Runs = Wins

The Rajasthan Royals have found themselves in two run fests so far this year, but their successful run chase against Kings XI Punjab on Sunday was spectacular on so many levels. Steve Smith’s men needed 224 to win the game, but at the half way point they would have known they were still in the game because Sharjah is one of the smallest grounds in the world. They needed a fast start but they lost Jos Buttler early leaving captain Smith and Sanju Samson to get the chase underway properly. 50 for Smith and 85 from Samson got the Royals just above the asking rate but when Rahul Tewatia found himself on 8 from 19 balls and struggling to hit the ball off the square, the game felt like it was swinging in Kings XI direction.

But a miraculous change of form from Tewatia saw him hit 30 from one Sheldon Cottrell over which contained five sixes saw Rajasthan home with three balls to spare. A crazy match that saw them break their own record from 2017, for the highest successful run chase in IPL history.

They will be full of confidence going in to their match with KKR, but playing on a bigger pitch, they might not be able to blast their way to the points.

Feast or famine?

It was a really mixed scorecard in Kolkata’s win over the Sunrisers last time out. Only five batsmen were called upon to chase down the below par 143, but ducks for pinch hitter Sunil Narine and captain Dinesh Karthik will be of concern to the management at KKR. But a mature 70* from 62 for opener Shubman Gill and contributions from Eoin Morgan (42*) and Nitish Rana (26) got them comfortably over the line.

With the ball, Pat Cummins proved to any doubters why he was worth the big price tag with an impressive spell of 4-0-19-1 including the wicket of danger man Jonny Bairstow. DK cleverly waited until the final few overs of the innings to unleash his trump card of Andre Russell with the ball. The West Indian took the key wicket of Manish Pandey who was set and ready to score quickly at the end of the innings.

Match Tip

Despite the amount of runs that they have both scored so far, they have also both lost a lot of wickets, giving their tail a chance to wag, that’s why I think there will be quite a few wickets in this one.

I am backing there to be more than 12.5 wickets in the match at 1.70 with Betway.

Bet Over 12.5 wickets in the match on Betway