IPL Betting: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Pune Warriors India

Back Saurabh Tiwary to top score for Bangalore

It is top versus almost-bottom in the IPL as leaders Bangalore take on struggling Pune. Richard O'Hagan has all of the details

Royal Challengers Bangalore v Pune Warriors India
Start Time: 11:30 BST
TV: Live on ITV4 and itv.com

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Could this be turning into the Royal Challengers' year at last? As we reach the halfway point in the group stages of this year's Indian Premier League, they sit atop the points table with five wins from seven games. Captain Virat Kohli tops the run tables with 322, with team-mate Chris Gayle third in that table, whilst Ranganath Vinay Kumar is the leading wicket-taker with 12. On Saturday they had a surprisingly easy win over the previous table-toppers, Rajasthan Royals, and will expect a similarly comfortable ride against struggling Pune. Bangalore have tended to shuffle their overseas players in this competition, so expect Ravi Rampaul and possibly Tillekaratne Dilshan to make way for the likes of Moises Henriques and Andrew McDonald.

Pune Warriors India

Very little has gone right for Pune in this tournament so far, and nothing emphasised this more than Sunday's game when, after scoring 185 - their highest total this year - and reducing their opponents to 5-2, they managed to lose by 7 wickets, with Luke Wright's final over going for 17 from 5 balls. One of their main problems has been a lack of leadership, with Angelo Mathews looking tactically bereft. Ross Taylor out of form and Sunday's skipper Aaron Finch seemingly unable to handle the pressure. They now have a huge selectorial dilemma for this game, with only Finch of their overseas players justifying their paycheck. Ajantha Mendis took a wicket with his first ball on Sunday but was otherwise expensive and could drop out to allow Mathews to return.

Venue and Conditions

Bangalore remain unbeaten at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. With the match being played in the late afternoon rather than the evening the ten degree drop in temperature that has been affecting the later games should not be so much of an issue, so expect less help for bowlers who swing the ball and consequently more fun for the batsmen.

Match Odds

The home side are currently 1.618/13 favourites, which is a touch more generous than you would expect given their home form recently. Pune at 2.56/4, in consequence, are a little too short.

Top Bangalore Batsman

Picking a likely best batsman for Bangalore is becoming increasingly difficult. The odds are always short on the likes of Gayle and Kohli because of the sheer weight of runs they have made so far. That doesn't mean that they have always top scored for the team. Saurabh Tiwary looked in fine form on Saturday, scoring an unhurried 25 from 29 balls after a couple of quick wickets had looked like holding up the Bangalore run chase and at 5.24/1 he looks very good value in this market.

Top Pune Batsman

The market for Pune batsmen, on the other hand, has the opposite problem. With only one batsman in form and the lineup changing a lot from game to game as they search for a winning combination there really isn't a lot to choose from. Finch, remarkably the sixth leading run scorer this year despite the chaos, will not be a great price at around 4.03/1 but will be the safest bet here.

Recommended Bet:

Back Saurabh Tiwary at 5.24/1 to be the top Bangalore batsman