John Wright is a highly-respected veteran of the sports betting and sports management industries. Here, for SharpBetting.co.uk, he reflects on the weekend and dives into the Match 6 of the IPL 2024. This game sarts at 2:00pm UK time.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Punjab Kings
All teams have now played in this season's TATA IPL after the first five matches were played over the extended weekend since Friday's opening ceremony in Chennai. What have we seen and learned from the tournament so far?
The new two-ball bouncer rule will be a factor as sides will target batters who are susceptible to short bowling especially early in their innings. Conversely, skippers and bowlers should only go to that tactic if certain bowlers of pace have that in their initial armory.
We saw Bhuvi Kumar bowl beautifully in his opening spell, beating the bat off the wicket just short of a length but then when he came back to bowl at the death his lack of pace in trying to execute the said short ball cost him and his Sunrisers franchise forty runs in two overs.
RCB in their defeat to Chennai in the opening match look woefully short of a quality spinner so will always be suspect on pitches that assist spin. Although middle-order batter-and-keeper Anuj Rawat looked promising and maybe one to keep an eye on.
Chennai Super Kings are clearly going to challenge for the title, their squad has such depth even with the switch of skipper from Dhoni to Gaikwad ; the influence of MSD on the field of play in their opening victory was still obvious to see.
Despite an opening defeat it was great to see Rishabh Pant back for the Delhi Capitals, he looked lean and sharp behind the stumps although his batting looked a shade rusty; not surprising considering his eighteen-month absence from the field since a horrific car crash.
England fans will be happy to see Sam Curran & Liam Livingston both star with the bat for Punjab Kings the former looked very comfortable coming in at four when his side was under pressure to set up the victory chase against Delhi with his England colleague.
Rajasthan skipper and wicketkeeper Sanju Samson starred with an unbeaten 82 as the Royals comfortably restricted Lucknow to twenty short of their 193 total.
All six Royals bowlers contributed but Sandeep Sharma was the eyecatcher coming back into the attack when KL Rahul and Nicky Pooran looked in control and helped swing the match to the home side
The final match of the weekend saw Hardik Pandya as pantomime villain, currently return to Gujarat as Mumbai skipper.
Mumbai looked to have the match under control. They restricted the Titans to 168 with some superb bowling by Jasprit Bumrah who bowled his allocation to concede just 14 runs and take 3 wickets.
But Mumbai lost their way in the chase thanks to some good bowling from impact substitution Mohit Sharma.
Today in match six we see RCB host the Punjab Kings, the home side will be looking to kick-start their season.
Skipper Faf Du Plessis got RCB off to a flyer in Chennai and their home ground suits power batters which the visitors have in abundance in Shikar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow and Liam Livingstone in particular.
Punjab Kings to score the most sixes might be a market you might want to get with in supporting the away side.
Selections
- Punjab Kings to have the most sixes in the match at odds of around 2.40
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Read John's previous match preview here. And check out John's cricket insights on the Betting Weekly: Cricket podcast. You can connect with him on X at johnwright15.
