IPL 2023: Kolkata Knight Riders v Rajasthan Royals Betting Tips

An opportunity to move as high as number three beckons for Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals when they face off in Match 56 of IPL 2023 on Thursday at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Lwanele Poswayo has prepared his best bets for this encounter.

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These two sides are level on 10 points on the standings, with the Royals above KKR because of the superior net run rate. The hosts continue to be involved in thrillers, with their latest coming from Andre Russell and Rinku Singh as they helped them to a last-ball win over Delhi Capitals last time out. This was their third victory out of five this season that came in the last over.

Home advantage could be crucial to their playoff chances, at least in this match as Kolkata have won six of the previous nine completed H2Hs at this venue. The big hits are going to entertain the crowd as the Knight Riders have hit a league-high 9.64 sixes per match in this campaign.

They take on a Royals bowling attack that has conceded a league-low 6.27 sixes per game this season, although two of the last three have seen them concede at least ten. Five defeats in their last six matches have put RR in a tight spot after a great start to the campaign.

Bowling remains a worry for RR as their decline coincided with their inability to defend targets. The Royals have failed to defend scores of 212 and 214 in two of their last three matches highlighting their soft underbelly.

This is a difficult one to call with Rajasthan’s odds of 1.83 looking very tempting, therefore I’m going to back them to win this game and get their campaign back on track.

Key Stats

Despite the last two first innings at this venue being 179 each, the average first innings score here in IPL 2023 is a tournament-high 205.

The pre-match favourites have failed to win eight of the 11 IPL 2023 matches featuring Kolkata Knight Riders.

Kolkata have scored the highest powerplay runs in just two of their last 11 matches.

On the contrary, Rajasthan have scored the highest powerplay runs in eight of their last 11 matches.

Nine of Rajasthan’s 12 H2H wins have come while setting a target.

Yashasvi Jaiswal strikes at the rate of 9.97rpo in the powerplays this season.

A spinner ended with the best figures (wickets followed by economy) for Rajasthan in eight of their 11 IPL 2023 matches.

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