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Horse Racing Tuesday's IPL Best Bet: Tuesday April 12th
Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore Best Bet
April 12th, 3pm (UK time)
Ravindra Jadeja’s coronation as Chennai Super Kings captain is beginning to morph into a funeral march, as the defending champions remain winless and marooned at the bottom of the IPL table. A drubbing by fellow strugglers Sunrisers Hyderabad proved extremely damning and highlighted the up-hill struggle that awaits in there push for a top-four finish.
They face a resurgent Royal Challengers Bangalore who after unsuccessfully defending 205 against Punjab in their opener, now remain unbeaten in three, and can call upon returning Aussie’s Glenn Maxwell and Josh Hazlewood.
My best bet can be found in the Team Top Bowler market, with Dwaine Pretorius representing value among a host of underperforming CSK bowlers.
After missing the start of the tournament due to South Africa’s ODI series against Bangladesh, Pretorius has hit the ground running picking up four wickets in two matches thus far, at an economy of just 7.62.
More Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore betting tips
However, he was bizarrely dropped for CSK’s last encounter in place of Maheesh Theekshana, but after an inability to bowl at the death in his absence, I’m taking a punt on Pretorius to be recalled and make a sizeable impact.
CSK’s death bowlers have proven extremely inconsistent, with Chris Jordan looking particularly wayward – conceding a match-defining 19 from the 16th over against the Sunrisers.
With the sale of Deepak Chahar in the auction resulting in fewer powerplay wickets, Dwayne Bravo vulnerable at the death, and Jadeja having failed to take a wicket against RCB in nine of his last 16 innings, the top bowler market for CSK remains wide open.
And although Pretorius has pace-limitations, his death bowling has improved incrementally over the past 12 months. Since 2021, the South-African has turned into his country’s specialist death bowler – where most of his scalps are picked up – claiming 13 wickets from 16 outings in this period.
As I’m expecting CSK to struggle to breakthrough RCB’s top three including Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli, I’m hoping Pretorius can subsequently scoop up the wickets required to secure this win at the death.
- Selection: Dwaine Pretorius, Team Top Bowler
- Best Odds: 5.50 (Betfred)
- Stakes: 6/10
Odds as at 3pm April 11th 2022. Odds may now differ.
