IPL Fantasy League 2016 Tips: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rising Pune Supergiants, Match 22

Transfers made – 1; Transfers remaining – 52

Gautam Gambhir out – David Warner in

(Uncapped) Krunal Pandya out – Deepak Hooda in

Batting captain – David Warner

Bowling captain – Mustafizur Rahman

Batting captaincy options – David Warner, Ajinkya Rahane and Faf du Plessis

The fantasy potential of Rahane and Du Plessis depends on whether or not they escape the one over of Mustafizur Rahman that the Sunrisers usually bowl in Powerplay. If they manage to evade him, there is no reason why they can’t score. The early swing of Bhuvneshwar Kumar is a threat, yes, but it’s just about seeing the first over through.

I am not captaining either of the two here because even though a half-century each looks like a decent bet, carrying on from that point will be an issue with Mustafizur expected to bowl 3 overs at the death.

Comparing to these two, Warner appears to be a better option as he could not only get a good start but carry on as well with the Supergiants death bowling being the weakest of the tournament. While the Pune spin duo does pose a threat, I expect the true nature of the deck to come to his rescue.

Bowling captaincy options – Mustafizur Rahman and Bhuvneshwar Kumar

With Bhuvneshwar not in my team, I would stick with Mustafizur Rahman as my bowling captain for this match. The likes of Thisara Perera and Albie Morkel could still get junk wickets courtesy of bowling at the death, but it is not advisable to bank on them with their team struggling to compete.

Nature of the deck – Flat

Don’t let the first innings scores here this season confuse you – scorecard analysis doesn’t always help. That they have been chased down effortlessly every single time tells you how good a deck it is. And there is history to back it up as well.

Sunrisers Hyderabad – where the match breaks

The Sunrisers have been fiddling with Aditya Tare at No.3 for a couple of matches now, a move that doesn’t make any sense to me. They need to get back Moises Henriques who was very close to finding form the last time he played at that position. Eoin Morgan and Deepak Hooda could be interchanged depending on the match situation.

Hooda’s big hits could be the need of the hour today, with the Supergiants expected to bowl a lot of slow bowlers in the middle overs; Morgan might not find it as comfortable to deal with them. And Naman Ojha’s long handle wielding skills against spinners could be required as well.

Pune Supergiants – where the match breaks

With a lot of left-handers in the opposition, Ravichandran Ashwin has to raise his game, else the team could be in trouble big time.

Both Du Plessis and Rahane need to make sure they don’t gift any wickets to Mustafizur in the only over he will be bowling up front. And then it will be up to the Supergiants’ think-tank to promote both Perera and Morkel so that they can deal with Bipul Sharma, Hooda and Henriques in the middle overs.

If they reserve these two big-hitters for the death, Mustafizur will make short work of them. So instead promoting them to handle the aforementioned Sunrisers trio could work wonders as they are not just left-handers but good hitters of spin bowling as well. If the move forces Warner to bowl Mustafizur up front, then MS Dhoni and Steven Smith could take the attack to the lesser bowlers remaining at the death.

Dhoni, however, hasn’t been proactive for years now, so I expect them to follow the usual template and lose the match again.

Uncapped picks: Murugan Ashwin (1), Deepak Hooda (2), Bipul Sharma (3), and Rajat Bhatia (4)

Match call: Sunrisers Hyderabad to win it comfortably