IPL 2022: Chennai Super Kings v Royal Challengers Bangalore Betting Tips

We don’t often see the Chennai Super Kings at the bottom of the Indian Premier League standings while perennial underachievers Royal Challengers Bangalore sit in third place. That’s the reality ahead of Match 22 of the IPL 2022 season as these two South Indian franchises face off at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai.

One has to go way back to 2010 to find the last time Chennai Super Kings lost four IPL matches on the trot. We have a Betting Preview for this intriguing encounter.

Betting Preview

Super Kings are indeed missing the du Plessis touch at the top of the order. A struggling Ruturaj Gaikwad has taken the shine off the quick, fiery starts Robin Uthappa has been getting off to, which has hampered the side. That head coach Stephen Fleming lamented the batting, bowling and fielding after the loss to SRH indicates that the self-belief of the four-time champions is on shaky grounds.

MS Dhoni’s decision to relinquish the captaincy two days before the tournament started threw Chennai’s plans somewhat as they’ve started this campaign with four losses in a row. The absence of Deepak Chahar with the ball has played a major role in the Super Kings struggling for powerplay efficiency.

CSK have a run rate of just over seven in the middle overs, between the seventh and the 16th overs – just a shade better than that of the low-ranked Mumbai Indians. Royal Challengers, on the other hand, have been accelerating in the same phase, as evident from their run rate of 9.13, which is the second-best.

Bangalore also started the season under a new captain. After a false start against Punjab Kings, they come into this game with three successive wins, but more importantly, their improving form after their seven-wicket win last time over Mumbai Indians shows that RCB are progressing in the right direction. The emerging Anuj Rawat (113 runs, SR 120.21) at the top is showing impressive consistency to address one of Bangalore’s long-standing problems while Faf du Plessis (138 runs, SR 131.42) has added calm captaincy and runs to the side.

As Chennai continue to rue the loss of Faf’s services, Bangalore will hope that Glenn Maxwell can find his mojo against CSK. He has 259 runs from 148 balls (SR 175.00) against the Super Kings, but 185 of those came in his first two knocks against them with the most recent eight seeing him fail to cross 22.

RCB will be without one of their key bowlers, Harshal Patel, who has left the bubble due to the demise of his sister. Even without him, I see Faf du Plessis’ side getting past CSK to win their 4th consecutive match.

Key Stat

Five of the last six IPL matches at DY Patil Stadium have produced first innings scores of under 170.

There have been just three powerplay scores of fewer than 40 runs at the venue this season.

The chasing team has won seven of the eight matches involving CSK and RCB this season.

CSK have a 15-5 win-loss record when winning the toss against RCB in this competition.

RCB have posted the highest opening partnership of the match in just two of their last ten IPL matches, with one tie.

Virat Kohli has scored at least 50 in three of his last four innings vs CSK.

Although Dinesh Karthik has a strike rate of 155 and 159 against Dwayne Bravo and Jadeja, he has been dismissed three times each by them.

Players to Watch

If replacing MSD’s big captaincy shoes isn’t enough, Ravindra Jadeja finds himself in the midst of uncertainty as a captain where his on-field decisions could impact their playoff chances. He needs one wicket to tie Jasprit Bumrah at the top of most wickets against RCB but has failed to take a wicket in nine of his last 15 innings against them. His spin counterpart in the RCB camp, the leg-spinning Wanindu Hasaranga, is enjoying a great IPL campaign picking up eight wickets already, conceding 32 or fewer in his last three innings.

Best Bets

Suggested Bet: RCB to win 1.71

Suggested Bet: V Kohli to be RCB’s top batsman 3.60

Alternative Bet: W Hasaranga to be RCB’s top bowler 3.50

Bet Contributor