IPL 2014: Fantasy Guru - Resist the temptation

Guru’s team for the RCB vs. KKR match

Changes made:

Virat Kohli in – Ajinkya Rahane outYuzvendra Chahal in – Dhawal Kulkarni outChris Gayle (if he plays) in – Brendon McCullum out

This appears to be a tricky encounter. Look at the names out there from both the teams: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Yuvraj Singh, Chris Gayle (possibly fit), Jacques Kallis, Manish Pandey, Robin Uthappa, Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine, Mitchell Starc, Yuzvendra Chahal.

The fact that the match is being played at Sharjah, which is turning out into one of the best batting pitches of late, eases our workload a little, though.

Virat Kohli, despite being capable of providing points through only one aspect of the game – batting, has nearly taken the status of the ‘fantasy god’ in all formats of the game: a status previously held by the likes of Shane Watson and Jacques Kallis. So, he makes his way into the side at the cost of Ajinkya Rahane.

AB de Villiers: There is not much of a difference between De Villiers and Kohli these days: however, RCB bat him at no. 5, something which single-handedly challenges his spot in fantasy teams. You can have a look at his stats with RCB over the last two seasons; one aspect that will strike you immediately is the number of deliveries he has faced: too less to make an impact.

He could come off once in 4 matches, but we can’t afford to take him in, more so when he is an overseas player (with only 4 spots available), 16 times hoping for that to happen. Adding more to our woes is the form Parthiv Patel finds himself him. He will most likely bat out the first 6 overs.

Yuvraj Singh: This Yuvraj is nowhere close to the one who dominated the world 5 years ago. If you notice him close enough, you will be able to find that he struggles big time against quality bowlers. Knight Riders have Narine, that seals the question over his spot.

Gautam Gambhir: You can never judge a player’s state by looking at his form in the domestic matches, more so when it is an Indian domestic tournament. Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, and Yuvraj Singh are prime examples for it. Keep them out till they look convinced enough to get a spot in our teams.

Jacques Kallis: RCB bowling attack has been in top notch form, and Kallis, opening the innings, has to face every single one of them. I don’t see how Kallis can escape the trap: Starc’s angle, Aaron’s place, Chahal’s spin, etc. That is just too much for Kallis to overcome when he wants to go on the attack. His bowling isn’t something that can force you to rethink about his inclusion, more so against the quality of RCB batsmen.

Robin Uthappa: Uthappa has time and again said that batting at 4 is not his cup of tea and that he wants to open; he repeated the lines ahead of KKR’s match against Delhi Daredevils, too. For now, with KKR not scheduled to play their second match in a quick succession, he is not worth a transfer, despite standing decent chance to come off.

Shakib bats too low for his style of batting and struggles to slog pacers: Aaron and Starc. Yusuf Pathan, well, doesn’t really demand a discussion over his spot.

Sunil Narine – The big debate:

I am keeping Narine out, and, yes, I am serious. We are not given 150 transfers to play with, and, at some point of time, we need to resist our temptation to take the safe 70-point picks. I have come to this conclusion, as Narine is most likely to bowl more of his deliveries to Kohli and ABD. They are good enough to negate him (Note: The key word is negate). With the pitch conducive to batting and the shorter boundaries, even the mishits of Albie Morkel can travel far.

With Gambhir employing him only at the death, the likes of Parthiv Patel and Yuvraj Singh would have been dismissed by that time of the match. Although Yuvraj and Gayle have had little clue against Narine, they are smart enough to defend him; thereby, the only way he can get them is by beating them in defence. He is good enough to do it, but, as you may have noticed, there are too many threats to overlook in picking him. I keep him out, since these are the decisions that finally decide whether we reach the top 1000 or the top 200.

Chris Gayle effect:

If Gayle plays, the only real threat to him on this wicket would be Narine. The secret to Gayle’s success in IPL is his ability to see off the most threatening bowler of the opposition and target the weaker ones. I would put my money on him to see Narine off and score against the rest. For all the talk about his form, Sharjah ain’t a Bangladeshi turner.

Also, RCB’s second fixture is an afternoon match (couple of matches later) against Rajasthan Royals at Abu Dhabi, a pitch where McCullum slogged the Kings 11 Punjab bowlers out of the park. That is too much to look beyond.

Bowlers:

The fact that the match is being played on a good batting wicket is enough to keep the other bowlers out. One of them might pick 3 wickets on the day, but how do you find who would be that?

Uncapped player spot – Yuzvendra Chahal:

Manish Pandey: There is a reason why, despite scoring bulk of runs in domestic cricket and catching our attention in big stages like IPL, he continues to remain out of contention for a national spot. He is reckless, unaware of what is happening around him and struggles against quality deliveries.

When you have a safer bet in Chahal against a shaky KKR batting unit, why do you bother gambling with Pandey?

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Edited by Staff Editor