IPL Betting: Deccan Chargers v Kolkata Knight Riders

Indian Premier League - IPL / Tobias Gourlay / 02 May 2011 / Leave a Comment

Gautam Gambhir has overtaken Jacques Kallis as Kolkata's leading batsman

"Deccan lost heavily last time out and have a poor home record, but they have followed up their last three defeats with victories in the next match"

Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders need more players to follow their captains' good examples on Tuesday, says Tobias Gourlay

Deccan Chargers

Kumar Sangakkara has scored more runs than any other overseas player in IPL 2011 (250 in eight innings).

Deccan's captain has been let down by the underperformance of Deccan's other foreigners, especially Cameron White and JP Duminy. Local replacements are not forthcoming, however, and changes are unlikely for this match.

Kolkata Knight Riders

Gautam Gambhir, Kolkata's captain, has also been setting a good example. He gets more support from his batsman and a plethora of all-rounders allow him to tinker, according to the nature of the pitch.

Shakib al Hasan usually replaces Eoin Morgan or Ryan ten Doeschate on spinning wickets.

Match Odds

Deccan lost heavily last time out and have a poor home record, but they have followed up their last three defeats with victories in the next match. At [2.46] in-play bettors should start on their side.

Hyderabad is a high-scoring ground and might cover some of their deficiencies with willow in hand, if they bat first. Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma lead a much stronger bowling attack that should bring their price in at some point, if they bowl first.

Top Kolkata Batsman

Gautam Gambhir is Kolkata's leading run-scorer in IPL 2011 and fifth in the overall table with 254 from eight innings.

Gambhir has overtaken his team-mate, Jacques Kallis, who was an overall leader early on in the competition, but has been dismissed for 11 runs or fewer in four of his last five innings.

While Kallis continues to take up more than his fair share of the Kolkta market, there is value in backing Gambhir at [5.0] or so. He has been Top Kolkata Batsman in three of his team's last five matches.

Best Bet: Back-to-lay Deccan Chargers @ [2.46]

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IPL Betting: Deccan Chargers v Royal Challengers Bangalore

Indian Premier League - IPL / Richard O’Hagan / 13 April 2011 / Leave a Comment

AB De Villiers is the model of consistency and tailor-made for this format

"However, the listless Bangalore performance on Tuesday, and that fact that their star bowler Zaheer Khan has been woefully out of touch, suggests that Deccan have a better chance than their odds of [2.8] might suggest."

Two of the slow-starters of this year's IPL go to battle tomorrow afternoon and it's hard to have too much confidence in either. At the prices it's worth siding with the outsiders though, says Richard O'Hanlon.

Deccan

About the only thing that has gone right for the Chargers so far is that they still have the best team anthem in the competition (if you happen to like 1980s hair metal, that is).

None of their preferred overseas quartet of captain Kumar Sangakkara, JP Duminy, Dan Christian and Dale Steyn has really performed, and there has been little support from the local talent, even Test players such as Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha.

Michael Lumb - a T20 World Cup winner with England twelve months ago - and Rusty Theron could come in for Duminy and Steyn, but Cameron White is unlikely to arrive from Bangladesh in time to play.

Bangalore

The Challengers had an easy win over the Tuskers in the third game of the tournament, but came badly unstuck against Mumbai on Tuesday.

Although both Tillekaratne Dilshan and AB de Villiers have found form with the bat, Dilshan's slow innings almost certainly contributed to the Indians' loss.

None of their bowlers seem to have found form bar Dirk Nannes, who was only able to bowl one over after picking up a niggle. Should he be injured, the temptation must be there to strengthen the batting by bringing in young South African Rilee Rossouw.

Match Odds

Deccan have been so poor in this tournament that it takes a brave man or woman to back them. However, the listless Bangalore performance on Tuesday, and that fact that their star bowler Zaheer Khan has been woefully out of touch, suggests that Deccan have a better chance than their odds of [2.8] might suggest.

Top Scorer odds

De Villiers, with a forty in the first game and a thirty in the second, never looks out of form and is a solid bet to top score for the visitors. He should be available at around [4.5] to top score for Bangalore.

Best Bet

Deccan Chargers to win at [2.8].

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