IPL Betting: Kolkata Knight Riders v Royal Challengers Bangalore

Brett Lee got KKR's IPL campaign off to a positive start but a defeat to RCB on Sunday will end their title defence

Matt Harris expects a powerful Bangalore side to end Kolkata's faint hopes of a playoff place with a comfortable victory when these sides meet on Sunday.

Kolkata Knight Riders v Royal Challengers Bangalore
Sunday 9 May 2013 at 11:30 BST
Live on ITV4 and itv.com

Kolkata Knight Riders
It had all started so positively for KKR when Brett Lee removed Unmunkt Chand's off stump with the very first ball of IPL 6 to precipitate a comfortable victory over Delhi on the opening day. Since then however, it's been a difficult tournament for the defending champions and after eight defeats in 13 games, a further loss here will cement their elimination at the end of the group stage.

Kolkata have clearly missed Brendon McCullum who sat out the majority of the tournament with a hamstring injury before leaving the IPL to join up with New Zealand but perhaps the performances of Sunil Narine have been the main issue. The West Indian may still be in the running for the Purple Cap but the majority of his wickets have been tail enders and the suggestion is that the better batsmen have finally worked him out.

There has, however been a late rally in the KKR camp and Limited Overs specialist Ryan Ten Doeschate should really have featured much earlier but while current form is good, the Knight Riders will struggle for points in this match.

Royal Challengers Bangalore
Virat Kohli is trying desperately to prove that RCB aren't a one man team and the skipper's stunning 99 against Delhi took him to third place in the list of leading run scorers in IPL 6. Chris Gayle is second on that list but when these two men have failed, there has been little support from the remaining batsmen.

In the bowling department, Vinay Kumar has been a stand out performer but once again, he's largely battled alone and needs better back up in tight games. 

This 'three man team' may be found out in the latter stages of this tournament but for now, Royal Challengers should be strong enough to take the win on Sunday.

Venue and Conditions
This is the first game to be played at the Ranchi's JSCA Stadium in this tournament making it hard to judge exactly what a par score should be. When England played an ODI here in January, the tourists limped to 155 all out in 42 overs and while India chased that target down with 20 overs to spare, recent results suggest that this isn't the fastest ground in the country.

A total of 160 should be the minimum target for the side taking first knock in a game where sufficient cloud cover is expected to assist the seamers.

Match Odds
Bangalore's more consistent form over the course of the tournament sees them as favourites at 1.75/7 with Kolkata the outside bet at 2.26/5.

KKR definitely have momentum and look a far better T20 unit with Ten Doeschate and Eoin Morgan in the middle order but I expect a significant innings from either Gayle or Kohli to seal the points for the Royal Challengers.

Top Kolkata Batsman
After making just 12 runs from three knocks, Gambhir returned to from with a half century on Friday and the skipper remains favourite at 3.412/5. Elsewhere, Ten Doeschate looks at little short at 65/1 but in contrast, the inconsistent Yusuf Pathan is generous at 76/1 and is my tip to finally make a telling score for Kolkata.

Top Bangalore Batsman
Kohli's knock of 99 will see him attract a fair share of the market at 43/1 while the patient Cheteshwar Pujara has the capacity to bat through the innings and is in with a chance at 54/1.

I've avoided the favourite so far in this tournament as he's generally far too short but another Gaylestorm is overdue so take Chris Gayle at 2.526/4.

Recommended Bet
Back Bangalore to win at 1.75/7.