IPL 2022: Kolkata Knight Riders v Punjab Kings Betting Tips

A new-look Punjab Kings side, with power, confidence and depth, chased down 206 against Royal Challengers Bangalore to kick off their season in style. They now square off against Kolkata Knight Riders, who play with similar attacking intent and freedom.

We bring you a Betting Preview for the 8th match of at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai.

Betting Preview

Having opened their 2022 campaign by avenging last season’s five-wicket defeat in the final against the CSK, KKR took a backward step in their previous match against RCB, losing by three wickets. Poor execution of shots on a decent enough batting track saw them bowled out for an under-par 128 in 18.5 overs.

In the chase, with so few runs to bowl at, eight miserly overs from opening bowlers Umesh Yadav (2/16) and Tim Southee (3/20) couldn’t prevent RCB from getting over the line with four balls to spare.

The result didn’t go in Knight Riders’ favour but they stayed true to their playbook, hitting more boundaries than Royal Challengers. It was another good performance from the KKR bowlers who last season topped the table for the fewest runs conceded (2545), but yet again the main concerns lie in the batting discipline

The Punjab Kings, who own the worst IPL team record having qualified for the playoffs just twice in 14 attempts, started their campaign off with a five-wicket win over RCB on Sunday. Rahul Chahar’s tidy four overs of spin (1/22) was the only noteworthy spell as Faf du Plessis’ men notched up a huge 205/2 off their 20 overs.

In their chase, some impressive consistent batting from six of the seven batters to make the crease for the Kings saw them take the points with an over remaining in the match. Shikhar Dhawan and Bhanuska Rajapaksa shared the top scorer spoils with 43 runs apiece. I expect the former to capitalize if he gets a good start after scoring 43 runs v RCB.

South African quick Kagiso Rabada is out of quarantine and trained with the Kings after having participated in the ODI series at home against Bangladesh. Jonny Bairstow, however, is unavailable for the Kings’ second game as he is yet to complete quarantine upon arrival from the Caribbean.

Having won four of the last six H2Hs but losing the last two, Shreyas Iyers’ men will be looking for another decent opening partnership to help snap that losing streak having had the highest in the last four encounters. My prediction for this one is the Punjab Kings continuing with their excellent start to this year’s edition by winning this match.

Key Stat

The overall average first innings score at the Wankhede stadium is 166; so far in this edition, it stands at 145.

Last season the Kings scored at the slowest run-rate of all franchises during the six-over powerplay (6.99rpo). In their first game of 2022, however, they managed 63/0 (10.5rpo).

Similarly, KKR have finished 15 of the last 17 H2Hs with the most powerplay runs.

Varun Chakaravarthy was KKR’s top bowler in five of their 14 matches last season.

The average run tally in Powerplays at the Wankhede Stadium is 46.

Four of the last five H2Hs have been won by the chasing team.

Sunil Narine has a particularly strong record against the Kings, having picked up 31 wickets in 21 games at an average of 18.22 and an economy rate of seven.

Players To Watch

Sunil Narine, a veteran of 136 IPL matches, has taken 144 wickets at an average of 24.55, but when bowling to the IPL’s second-highest ever run scorer, Shikhar Dhawan, (5,827) in T20s that ramps up to 44.50 having dismissed him just twice in 16 matches.

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