IPL 2014 Match 15 prediction: Punjab (62%) expected to easily defeat Kolkata (38%)

By Shashi Mittal On April 26, 2014

Prediction methodology

Note: Starting match 14 onwards, we are using only the data of IPL 2014 to predict the outcome of the matches of the current series.

Prediction: Punjab (62%) expected to easily defeat Kolkata (38%) (Match scorecard)

According to our model, Glenn Maxwell is the best player in this season so far, while Sunil Narine has been the best player when we include performance from the last season as well. Glenn Maxwell didn't perform all that well last year, but Narine is still awesome and ranks fairly high (9th overall) among all the players in this season. It will be exciting to see the battle between Maxwell and Narine, although Maxwell has been merciless to spinners so far.

While Maxwell's performance has been outstanding, the opposite is true for Kolkata's captain, Gautam Gambhir, who has a duck in all the three innings this season. Clearly, the performance of both the players are outliers, and some regression towards the mean is expected. Maybe this is the match in which Narine finally gets the better of Maxwell. Perhaps Gambhir will find his vintage form against the suspect bowling attack of Punjab. For now though, the advantage is distinctly in favor of Punjab, and they should come out on the top yet again in this match.

Cricmetric's current prediction success rate for IPL 2014: 5/13 (38%)