IPL 2014: Fantasy Guru - Cash in on Abu Dhabi double headers

Rajasthan Royals:

Ajinkya Rahane will be up against an almost international attack and will have his shortcomings brutally exposed.Shane Watson could come a cropper against the likes of Steyn and Mishra; therefore, I am not entertaining the thoughts of having him in the team.

Faulkner is valuable for an IPL team, but not for us. He isn’t Lasith Malinga or Sunil Narine. He will hardly have any time to make an impact with the bat, as well, unless he is promoted.

Steve Smith, should he play – with the ability to play spinners, apply himself, and be explosive at the same time – is worth a spot. I doubt him playing though, as Rajasthan Royals just love what Kevon Cooper has to offer, who isn’t of much use to us.

If you ask Watson at the innings break on who among Stuart Binny and Brad Hodge will come into bat first, even he wouldn’t be able to say that, which rules both of them out.

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs. Mumbai Indians:

Guru’s team for the 5th match – RCB vs MI

Transfers made – 2; Transfers remaining – 67

Aditya Tare (in) – Pravin Tambe (out)Michael Hussey (in) – George Bailey (out)Lasith Malinga (in) – Dale Steyn (out)

Captain – Virat Kohli

Choosing Tare ahead of Yuzvendra Chahal may look outrageous. As much as I rate Chahal, I should be practical, too. Hussey, Rayudu and Rohit are probably 3 of the best players of spin around the world now, and it would be ignorant of someone to think he will be repeating the Man-of-the-Match performance again.

RCB:

Yuvraj Singh will be the point of debate. Although he scored a 50, let’s not forget that the Delhi Daredevils bowling exhibition was one of the worst in recent memories. The fact that they were captained by Dinesh Karthik, who looked out-of-sorts with the way he managed the bowlers, didn’t help either. Mumbai, with Malinga and Harbhajan Singh (yes, he is still an off-spinner, which is enough), will not make his job that easy.

If there is a match that I would take an AB de Villiers who bats at 5 in my team, it will be this. I expect the openers and Yuvraj to fail, which will leave it to Kohli and ABD to do what they do: destroy the opposition. While Kohli is a certainty, ABD is a low-risk gamble.

None of the capped RCB bowlers will make it to my side.

Mumbai Indians:

Place your trust in Michael Hussey; he is Mr. Cricket for a reason. RCB’s bowlers are not threatening enough to do what the Knight Riders did to him.

Rayudu travels with you throughout the IPL:

Rayudu has become an integral part of my team, as he comes in cheap and bats in the top 4. I rate him in T20s in these conditions when he bats at the top. A decent player against fast bowling, he will take the attack to the spinners, unless and until it is Sunil Narine.

If Hussey finds form, both Kieron Pollard and Corey Anderson will have little to do; thereby, they stay where they are: out of my team.

Rohit Sharma and Lasith Malinga are too good to even discuss on why they should be in.

While I will be interested in having the Mumbai spin-duo against any other team, when the opposition has Kohli and ABD, I wouldn’t. Pragyan Ojha will have more setbacks when you consider that apart from the duo, RCB have 3 left-handers which can nullify his slow left-arm orthodox. Harbhajan Singh, on the other hand, is worth a gamble, a high-risk gamble, though.

Kolkata Knight Riders vs. Delhi Daredevils:

Transfers made – 1; Transfers remaining – 66

Sunil Narine (in) – Michael Hussey (out)Manish Pandey (in) – Sanju Samson (out)Captain – Sunil Narine

Except Narine, all the picks for this match will be based on how the Dubai pitch behaves in the first match of the day. As we haven’t yet seen an IPL match being played at Dubai, it would be unwise to strategise for it at this point.

I did not have Gambhir last time. Nothing changes this time, too, as he doesn’t look good to get past Mohammed Shami and Wayne Parnell/Nathan Coulter-Nile.

In my previous article, I did not even have Jacques Kallis as a choice, as KKR employed him at No. 3/4 last time around. Now that he is back as an opener and will be playing against a not-so-threatening attack and a vulnerable batting unit, the South African great will make his way back into the team, unless it is a turner.

Morkel, despite his stunning show against Mumbai Indians, will only get the nod ahead if the pitches assists pace bowling, just like the Abu Dhabi one did.

Delhi Daredevils:

No players from DD will make the cut, and that includes JP Duminy, too. By the time Duminy comes in, he will have 3 overs of Narine to face and will perish in trying to attack him. If Kevin Pietersen somehow makes a recovery in time, I will consider including him.

Though the fact that DD have 2 matches in 3 days makes me think twice about Duminy’s inclusion. However, again as I said, the first match will have a major say in how to go about things. Any modifications made to my team ahead of this encounter, therefore, would be updated in the article couple of hours ahead of the scheduled start. You can watch this space to know the progress.

A look at uncapped players:

Guru’s ‘nod’ will vary depending on the next fixture; the ‘comment’ stays the same.

Note: Click on the image to enlarge it

KKR vs. DD (added now):

Jacques Kallis looks a very safe bet. Since KKR don’t have their second match lined-up any soon and Kallis is no Shane Watson, I have chosen to leave him out, though. It would be totally fine to have him, too.

There is a lot of risk involved in keeping him out, but the decision is taken keeping in mind that there are lot of fixtures to follow where teams play back-to-back, and you need to have transfers to make use of him.