IPL Bengaluru v Chennai: Latest Odds & Analysis

Bengaluru v Chennai predictions: 

• Bengaluru to win - 1.85 @ 22Bet Sports
• Virat Kohli 30+ runs - 1.72 @ 22Bet Sports
• Ruturaj Gaikwad 30+ runs - 1.83 @ 22Bet Sports

When: Saturday 18 May, 7:30pm IST

Where: M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

Watch: Star Sports and JioCinema

Best Odds: Bengaluru 1.85, Chennai 2.00

Knockout cricket has arrived a few days early in the 2024 Indian Premier League, and there could hardly be a more exciting matchup given the circumstances!

Two of the most popular teams in the country will battle in Bengaluru for a second season running with Chennai dominating the last seven clashes 6-1 including last year’s match.

RCB are super high in confidence following five straight wins and can now leapfrog their rivals into the finals if they can win by a margin that will be determined after the first innings.

Some reports have suggested that, to get past CSK on Net Run Rate, RCB would need to win by 20+ runs if they scored 200 batting first, or chase 200 in 18 overs or less, but of course those numbers will change depending on scores.

Indian cricket betting sites are therefore expecting great interest globally in this marquee matchup and have provided bettors with a plethora of options to choose from for the third-last league stage game of 2024.

Here are our IPL best bets for Bengaluru v Chennai courtesy of some of our favourite cricket betting apps.

The Numbers That Matter

• Average first innings score in Bengaluru since 2023: 195
• Chennai hit the most sixes in each of the last eight H2Hs
• Ravindra Jadeja in all formats vs RCB’s last six bowlers: 131/0 from 22.4 overs
• Faf du Plessis scored 20+ runs in only two of six home games in 2024
• Shivam Dube v RCB: 227 runs from four innings (2x 50s, 10.24rpo) 

Six straight wins, but will it be enough?

Nobody can doubt that RCB are flying at the moment and are playing some very attractive and confident cricket at the moment.

Critics may point towards their last four wins coming against teams that are already eliminated from finals contention, but they’re in especially superb batting form scoring at 11 runs per over across their five straight wins.

Furthermore, there are more and more players coming to the fore to contribute to the match-winning efforts. 

Rajat Patidar recorded three half-centuries across those five wins, whilst Cameron Green chipped in with three 30+ scores and the trio of Swapnil Singh, Mohammed Siraj and Yash Dayal all collected multiple 2+ wicket hauls during their winning streak.

It’s a stark contrast from the first half of the season, where they picked up just 24 wickets in their first six matches and a concerningly high portion of their runs came off the bat of Virat Kohli.

They’re now firing on all cylinders, and if Glenn Maxwell can bring his ‘big game mentality’ to his likely return in place of the departed Will Jacks, a fourth consecutive playoffs could beckon.

Prediction: Bengaluru to win - 1.85 @ 22Bet Sports

Virat the Chinnaswamy run machine

Indian bookmakers understandably favour Virat Kohli more than any other player in this match to be the highest scorer of all 22 players, and it would certainly be a very popular bet off the back of Kohli returning the highest score amongst both sides in five of RCB’s last 11 games.

But with some of his fellow batters finding some great form, and Faf du Plessis scoring two quickfire half-centuries in Bengaluru this season, we prefer to take the conservative option and focus only on Kohli’s numbers.

On that note, Kohli joins his fellow opener with two half-centuries at home this season, as well as a further two scores of 42 against Hyderabad and Gujarat. 

In fact, Kohli’s worst score at home this season is 22 - which some of his teammates would have agonised for earlier in the season!

Against the bowlers he’s expected to face here, Kohli averages a very healthy 60.25, albeit at a pedestrian strike rate of less than 120, against the five bowlers CSK used in their recent win over Rajasthan.

Prediction: Virat Kohli 30+ runs - 1.72 @ 22Bet Sports

Gaikwad’s game to win

Chennai’s new captain will be out to make amends for a score of just 3 when these teams met in Bengaluru last year, and whilst the bulk of his runs this season have come in front of the sea of yellow at Chepauk, he has done enough to warrant backing him to score 30+ as well.

1.83 is particularly appealing when one considers Gaikwad scored 30+ runs in two-thirds of his last 12 innings, even if only two of them came at away venues - in Dharamsala and Mumbai.

Anyone who is looking for a greater price may also wish to consider that he was CSK’s top scorer in six of their last nine innings, and despite that IPL betting apps have presented him at a slightly better price than Kohli to be top team run scorer for this game. 

In terms of the players he’s likely to face head-on, Gaikwad has a very similar H2H average to Kohli: 61 at a strike rate of 151 against RCB’s last bowling attack minus Will Jacks. 

Throw potential RCB selection Glenn Maxwell into the mix (39 runs from ten balls faced), and that average climbs even further to 74!

Prediction: Ruturaj Gaikwad 30+ runs - 1.83 @ 22Bet Sports