IPL - Rajasthan (Jaipur) v Kolkata

All of a sudden, Shane Warne's Jaipur outfit looks a formidable force in this competition! The team everyone thought would be making up the numbers sits comfortably in third spot on the IPL ladder with three wins from four games. They are striving for their fourth successive win - taking on fourth-placed Kolkata who have hit the skids with two consecutive losses. We are positive that Jaipur is only going to get stronger in the IPL and have emerged from the shadows as a real winning show.

While other teams are starting to be depleted by their top players leaving for international duty, Jaipur will be able to keep the same outfit which is a huge bonus. The three Jaipur big guns of Warne, Graeme Smith and Shane Watson aren't going anywhere and will continue to bankroll Jaipur's success. While other teams have players leaving, Jaipur has in fact been boosted by the arrival of big-hitting England allrounder Dimitri Mascarenhas. You may not have heard much of him but he has already struck five successive sixes in a one-day international so you will hear a lot more of him. Jaipur's batting now looks terrific - especially with Watson (162 runs at 81) leading the charge. Smith (120 runs at 60) is also a dangerous opponent. Not to mention Yusuf Pathan who has blasted the quickest fifty of the IPL. And with Warne (who already has two man-of-the-match awards), Watson, Munaf Patel and now Mascarenhas in the ranks, their bowling attack has a dangerous edge to it.

By contrast, Kolkata are suddenly struggling after opening the competition in blazing style. You get the feeling that playing two home matches on a dodgy Eden Gardens pitch has done nothing for the confidence of the Kolkata side. And in worse news for Kolkata, the IPL's second-leading runscorer Brendon McCullum is no longer available and Ricky Ponting has left to fly home for Australia's camp in Brisbane before they leave for the West Indies tour. Even though Ponting did not fire in the IPL, his experience will be a big loss. He will be replaced by another Australian, Brad Hodge, who was a last-minute call-up.

We really, really DO NOT like the look of Kolkata's new batting lineup headed by Sourav Ganguly. With new arrivals Hodge and Salman Butt, along with David Hussey (who hasn't found form), followed by no-names like Mohammad Hafeez and Wriddhiman Saha, the Kolkata batting lineup looks very, very vulnerable. Too much depends on Ganguly and we are not convinced he is cut out for this type of cricket anyway.

Won't Warne relish bowling to former Victorian teammates Hussey and Hodge! Kolkata has one bowling plus in lanky quick Ishant Sharma - who can be a destructive force - but not enough other big guns to threaten Jaipur's strong lineup. There are so many aces on the Jaipur side - a team which Warne has melded magnificently. Warne could have been a wonderful Australian captain if given the chance. We know it is Twenty20 cricket - and anything can happen - but this is the game we have been most confident about in the tournament so far.

Jaipur, playing at home, have just too many weapons and a depleted Kolkata not enough firepower. Don't worry about getting too tricky with exotic bets, just have a big go of 2.5 units on Jaipur at $1.85 with Col Tidy, RacingOdds, Bill Hurley, NZ TAB or Betfair . I think a lot of bookies have priced this market going on Kolkata's reputation - and form of the start of the tournament - largely forgetting they have lost several big guns while Jaipur are only getting stronger. This is the bet of the tournament so far.

Deccan Chargers (Hyderabad) v Kings Punjab XI (Mohali)

What a mouthwatering clash this should be. Both teams are just chock-full of power hitters - even considering Hyderabad blaster Andrew Symonds is no longer available. Let's have a look at the firepower. Hyderabad boast Adam Gilchrist, Shahid Afridi and Herschelle Gibbs - three of the top five devastating six-hitters in the world. Hyderabad won't lose much with Gibbs coming in for Symonds. Symonds did not prove to be a matchwinner while Gibbs has shown he can carve up any bowling attack. Just ask the Australian bowling attack who Gibbs belted as South Africa chased down a world record one-day score at the Wanderers a few years back.

On the Punjab side, Yuvraj Singh, James Hopes and Kumar Sangakkara can blast away with the best of them. Punjab will miss Brett Lee but as Twenty20 is a batsman's game his absence will not be an enormous blow. Simon Katich, who provided a steady hand in the middle of the Punjab order, also won't be on deck although he isn't a dynamic 20-over player and his loss won't be huge either. These two sides don't have great bowling attacks - and poor variety with the ball - so we are predicting an absolute batting blast-off here. Both of these teams have the potential to smash well over 200 runs.

Although Hyderabad deserve to be favourites here, the result is too hard to call because a lot could depend on the toss of the coin at the start of the day. We aren't discounting the underdogs Punjab. Either team can carve out a huge score but the teams that bats first will really apply pressure if they score 200-plus, as we predict. This game will really be one to watch and enjoy rather than go too hard on the punt. There are loads of head-to-head batting markets on this match but they aren't easy to make money on because they pit ace batsmen against ace batsmen. There are no "good'' things.

One thing we can say for sure though is the Hyderabad mob - with Gilchrist, Afridi and Gibbs and impressive youngster Rohit Sharma - should hit a hell of a lot of sixes. It only needs one or two of this foursome to "go off'' and it will simply be raining sixes. We think Punjab have plenty of batting firepower as well - mainly centred around Hopes and Yuvraj - but the raw six-hitting strength undoubtedly belongs to Hyderabad. We like Hyderabad to hit the most sixes at $1.8 with Centrebet and IASBet for 1 unit .

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