Transfers made – 2; Transfers remaining – 28
Robin Uthappa out – KL Rahul in
Andre Russell out – AB de Villiers in
Pravin Tambe out – Yuzvendra Chahal in
Batting/ Full match captain – Virat Kohli
Bowling captain – Shane Watson
Batting captaincy options – Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell
Kings XI haven’t been consistent with the usage of Maxwell, and in Yuzvendra Chahal, RCB have the bowler to trouble him if he gets promoted, which rules him out. Also in a ground as big as Mohali, the likes of Shane Watson and Chris Jordan will feel more at home at the death.
Between Kohli and De Villiers, I would go with Kohli again. This time not just because he bats above De Villiers, but because of KXIP’s exceptional death bowling performances in last 2-3 matches – which is where he will be forced to score a majority of his runs.
Bowling captaincy options – Shane Watson, Chris Jordan, Mohit Sharma and Sandeep Sharma
Of the 4, Watson is the only bowler I have, and 8 out of 10 times, he should give the number of wickets the others are capable of in this fixture. And that he is bowling to a weaker batting line-up helps his case as well.
Nature of the deck – Flat
Uncapped players – Yuzvendra Chahal, Pardeep Sahu, Harshal Patel, KC Cariappa
RCB – Fantasy Clinchers
As I had called for in the last match, Kohli moving up the order worked wonders for the team, with Watson getting the platform to go after weaker bowling options as well. It remains to be seen whether they stick with Travis Head, who struggled a lot in the last match, or bring back Tabraiz Shamsi considering the fact they are playing away from home.
KXIP – Fantasy Clinchers
With the exception of KC Cariappa, I don’t see KXIP changing any of their players. But as long as they keep playing Amla at No.3, they have little scope in this world; the RCB-RPSG match gave me the break that I was badly looking for, pushing me up by 1500 spots in one match, only for KXIP to cut it down to 900 by the end of the day.
Notable Omission – Marcus Stoinis
Those who have followed Stoinis with Melbourne Stars know how limited a player he is currently, but given his role at KXIP, he is bound fluke out to as many points as he did the last time against Delhi Daredevils. Banking on it to happen match after match isn’t something I would advise.
Match call – RCB to win
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