IPL 2014: Fantasy Guru - Go for Glory

Guru’s team after the RCB vs. RR match

If you think that you have started a little too late for the official IPL Fantasy League 2014, you can always play this alternative version of fantasy cricket where you can win cash prizes daily - SportskeedaFantasyLeague. The next round has two matches featuring four teams: Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.

In this type of fantasy cricket, while assembling your playing 11 for the two matches, make sure you don’t miss out on players like Pravin Tambe, Karn Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Ben Hilfenhaus and Karun Nair who could prove to be the differential at a comparatively lower rate. While you can play for free, if you choose to play with an entry fee to Rs 35, you can win Rs 300. You can pay upto Rs 1,150 and win Rs 10,000 in cash for every round.

Disclaimer: The article doesn’t account for Bailey blunders (in general, the captaincy abilities these days). Although the Fantasy Guru takes into account the captaincy skills of the captains in concern, they continue to scale higher levels of ridiculousness, which necessitates the need for the disclaimer.

Sunrisers Hyderabad vs. Mumbai Indians:

Guru’s team for the SRH vs. MI match

Transfers made – 1; Transfers remaining – 30

Virat Kohli out – Lasith Malinga inSandeep Sharma out – Karn Sharma inCaptain – Lasith Malinga

If the last season matches at the Rajiv Gandhi Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad, are anything to go by, this one should be a low-scoring affair, dominated by spin bowlers. Therefore, I don’t see the need for the inclusion of any batsman from both the franchises. With Rohit Sharma and Praveen Kumar already a part of my 11, the other players who could get good points include Amit Mishra, Karan Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha and Lasith Malinga. Dale Steyn and the Kumars’ success largely depend on whether or not they will be able to find the swing with the new ball upfront. If they don’t, it comes down to how well they bowl at the death, one aspect where Praveen Kumar falls short in comparison to the other two.

Ambati Rayudu’s ability to play spinners can come in handy for Mumbai, while this is a great chance from Mishra to give something in return to Kieron Pollard who smashed him all around the park in their previous encounter at the United Arab Emirates.

With Sunrisers Hyderabad playing their next match at the same venue in a 4-match round, and 3-match rounds being extremely rare from now on, Mishra stands out as the best pick from the Sunrisers’ side. What concerns me, though, is the fact that in his last match he was repeatedly trying the googlies or the straighter ones instead of going for a conventional leg-spinner, which usually indicates the lack of confidence. If that is the case around, he will easily be negotiated by Rohit and Rayudu. But in the event of him getting his stock delivery going, Mumbai Indians’ are in a spot of bother.

I would have liked to take the risk and go in with him, but that calls for a major change in the team combination, which I don’t think is quite necessary. If you can get him in, do it.

The one big issue with picking Harbhajan is that he doesn’t bowl at the death, say someone like a Ravichandran Ashwin or Sunil Narine who do it match in match out, thereby reducing his chances to get wickets. With Mumbai’s next fixture being the one against Kolkata Knight Riders (a weak lower middle order), I choose to go in with Lasith Malinga, instead. While Bhajji should give decent returns, I would be happy if Malinga gives more over the course of two matches.

Shikhar Dhawan has been threatening to come good for sometime now, but I don’t see what good can happen by taking him in what is expected to be a low-scoring affair.

Uncapped player pick:

Karn Sharma is by far the best uncapped player pick for this match. While Aditya Tare bats very low, CM Gautam should find it difficult to get going against the quality on offer from the opposition bowling attack. Jasprit Bumrah will hardly get any assistance from the deck.

Chennai Super Kings vs. Rajasthan Royals:

Guru’s team for the RR vs. CSK match

Transfers made – 1; Transfers remaining – 29

Praveen Kumar out – Ravindra Jadeja inKarn Sharma out – Rajat Bhatia inCaptain – Ravindra Jadeja/Pravin Tambe/Suresh Raina

Having applied the Schedule Mantra before, Rajasthan side of it is done. Dwayne Smith had a terrible last game at Ranchi against the Kolkata Knight Riders, and I expect that to repeat again, as the pitch at the venue provides considerable assistance to the spinners.

However, MS Dhoni was not exactly pleased with the track, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out to be flat this time. Hence, it is better to wait for the pitch report before deciding on whether or not to include the CSK openers.

If it is expected to turn, the trio of Royals’ slow bowlers – Pravin Tambe, Rajat Bhatia and Rahul Tewatia – will make life miserable for the dashing duo, who have relished playing on pitches where the ball has come on to the bat, so far.

The Super Kings’ fortunes in this match depend largely on MS Dhoni’s contributions with the bat, but what prevents me from picking him is the fear of him promoting Ravindra Jadeja or Mithun Manhas and ending up with lesser balls to face.

Ajinkya Rahane can easily steer himself to a 40-ball 50, while Shane Watson will be put through acid test against the spin of Ashwin and Jadeja. Steve Smith could be the decisive factor on this deck, and some big hits from Stuart Binny could be on store, too.

If the opening pair of Rahane and Karun Nair are dismissed, the CSK spin duo can boss the game and swing it in their team’s favour. Both the openers, however, will be the key if the Royals’ bat second. It is not easy to pick between them, but Jadeja’s chances of batting higher up the order on a difficult wicket and the slew of right handers in the Royals’ top order makes me pick him ahead of Ashwin.

Uncapped player pick:

With Tambe and Samson in the team, I would most probably go in with one of the Royals’ slow bowlers – Bhatia/Tewatia/Iqbal Abdulla.

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs. Delhi Daredevils:

Guru’s match for the DD vs. RCB match

Transfers made – 3; Transfers remaining – 26

Suresh Raina out – Kevin Pietersen inAjinkya Rahane out – Dinesh Karthik inShane Watson out – AB de Villiers inCaptain – AB de Villiers/Kevin Pietersen

I am done with Virat Kohli, finally.

Even after ruling both sets of bowlers out, this is a tricky encounter. Chris Gayle, Ab de Villiers, Yuvraj Singh, Quinton de Kock, Kevin Pietersen, Dinesh Karthik and JP Duminy: all of them have the potential to make it big. However, we can’t pick all or even most of them for obvious reasons. So, you have to eliminate and pick the rest who have the best probability to give more points.

Duminy – Can bat low and not get enough deliveries – outDe Kock – Hasn’t yet shown his ability to play a big knock and the threat of Yuzvendra Chahal looms big – outGayle - Siddarth Kaul, if he pitches it up more, Rahul Shukla’s extra bounce and Imran Tahir’ googly: all have the ability to get rid of the big West Indian – out.

Delhi fit the 4-match round, so I take both Pietersen and Dinesh Karthik in, the former for showing signs of returning back to form and with the only major threat being Chahal and the latter, as KP has moved up top, thereby making him the mainstay in the middle order.

You can’t select both De Villiers and Yuvraj as they bat at similar positions and RCB play their second fixture only after a span of 4 matches, so I go with AB de Villiers for 3 reasons: Out-of-form top 3; Parthiv Patel, who eats too many deliveries up the order, moving down; and him coming in at No. 4, ahead of Yuvraj, regularly now. De Villiers is more assured than Yuvraj, too.

Uncapped player pick:

While both Rahul Shukla and Siddarth Kaul can chip in with a couple of wickets, they have the threat of leaking too many at the death. Mayank Agarwal at No. 3 is a gamble, but one which is worth it with the shorter boundaries.