IPL Betting: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Rajasthan Royals

Can Dishant Yagnik be Rajasthan's hero?

It is a top of the table clash in the IPL as leaders Rajasthan visit Bangalore. The hosts are unbeaten at home this season, so who will come out on top? Richard O'Hagan looks at the possibilities.

Royal Challengers Bangalore v Rajasthan Royals
Start Time: Saturday April 20th, 15:30 BST
TV: Live on ITV4 and itv.com

Royal Challengers Bangalore

One of the surprises before this season's IPL began was just how little attention was being paid to the Bangalore side. Any team boasting Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers was bound to be a contender, especially when you factored in the likes of Muttiah Muralitharan, Andrew McDonald and one of the world's canniest T20 bowlers in Murali Karthik. At the time of writing they sit pretty in second place in the points table, having taken 8 from a possible 12 so far. Significantly, the two games they lost were very narrow losses - one in a super over, one to a last ball no-ball - and whilst there have been narrow wins there have also been some thumping ones. They've chopped and changed their team as they have gone along, looking to rest players as much as for tactical reasons, but don't expect too many big stars to miss out on their home ground. Tillekaratne Dilshan is due a recall, but veteran seamer Zaheer Khan is still likely to be absent injured.

Rajasthan Royals

The Royals surprised most people by beating Mumbai on Wednesday and moving to the top of the table. Opener Ajinkya Rahane carried his bat for 68 in that innings as they racked up their highest score of the season so far. In fact, that could've been an even bigger total but for Rahane's failure to hit a boundary between the 10th and 16th overs, and for a curious decision to hold back one of the biggest hitters in the tournament to date, Brad Hodge, until after the third wicket had fallen. Wicketkeeper Dishant Yagnik was a big part of that total, too, coming into the side and making a crucial 34 after Shane Watson's 25-ball 31 had set them on their way. That was a glimpse of the form that they have been expecting from the Australian vice-captain and it will probably keep him in the team for this game. It would be a surprise if, after such a dominant performance against the then-leaders - there were any changes to the match day XI at all. 

Venue and conditions

Conditions at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium certainly favour the home side, as they have won all four of their fixtures here this year. Conditions promise to be warm and overcast, which should be ideal for swing bowlers if not particularly helpful to batsmen. There hasn't been a score of under 150 in either innings here this season, but there hasn't been one of more than 166 either.

Match odds

This is another one of those games where the toss could be important. Of Bangalore's four home wins, three of them have come batting second. In fact, their only win defending a total was in their first home match. Bangalore might be 1.618/13 favourites at the moment, but 2.447/5 on a side topping the table is generous anyway and will look even more so if Rajasthan field first.

Top Bangalore batsman

One of the nice things about betting on a batsman-heavy side such as Bangalore is that the odds on any one of their stars tend to be slightly longer than they otherwise would've been. This means that there's some small value in backing big crowd favourites like Gayle and Kohli, but also means you should get around 4.77/2 on de Villiers, which is a lot longer than he would be in any other team.

Top Rajasthan batsman

Despite Rajasthan's table-topping status, they still don't seem to have figured out their best batting order yet. The best bet here, therefore, is to go with Yagnik, who should keep his number three slot, is in good form and should be available at well over 5.04/1

Recommended bet

Back Dishant Yagnik at anything over 5.04/1 to top score for Rajasthan Royals