IPL 2014: Fantasy Guru employs 'Schedule Mantra'

Kings 11 Punjab:

Bailey-O-Bailey:

I must admit that while I expected George Bailey to make a mess of the batting order by either demoting Glenn Maxwell or David Miller to number 6, I never foresaw him lowering himself to that spot. Had he come in ahead of Miller, he would have had 50 runs to his name and plenty of points to my team by belting that club-level CSK bowling attack.

Apart from Glenn Maxwell, who is already in my team, I have decided to not take in any of the Kings 11 players, as I am not quite sure who among Miller and Bailey will come in at number 5. My team has already been affected by Bailey’s tactics, and it is not ready for anymore. While Akshar Patel was employed as a floater in the match against CSK, it could very well be Wriddhiman Saha this time to delay both Miller and Bailey. And Saha doesn’t get out easily.

Also, if Kings 11 bat first, Cheteshwar Pujara may just bat on and on and reduce the number of deliveries others can face. It doesn’t make a case for bringing in Pujara into the team, though.

Virender Sehwag looked pleasing to watch during his short stay at the crease, but Royals have a potent attack to keep him quiet.

Sharjah looked good for batting, and hence Johnson, being not a good death bowler, doesn’t make the team, either.

Uncapped player: Pravin Tambe will slot in as an uncapped player for this match.

Chennai Super Kings vs. Delhi Daredevils:

Transfers done – 2; transfers remaining – 62

Virat Kohli out – Suresh Raina inPravin Tambe out – Mayank Agarwal in

Captain – Suresh Raina

The fact that Chennai Super Kings play 2 matches in a 3-match round activates the schedule mantra.

Suresh Raina walks in:

Suresh Raina would be the first name to find a spot for obvious reasons.

Just because both Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith look good to rake in points, you can’t have both in the team. Both of them have had their troubles in scoring against the slower bowlers, which makes the encounter against Royals a tough nut to crack. Another point to be noted is that the evening matches have provided considerable assistance to the bowlers in all the fixtures played so far.

The value of points per transfer in this case is very high, though. Therefore, I choose to go in with McCullum, who is more a 360 degree player than Smith, who has his limitations.

There is just too much batting strength with the Super Kings; therefore, MS Dhoni may not be needed at all. Faf du Plessis at 4 isn’t quite as good as he can be as an opener, as the position requires clearing the ropes more than timing the shots, which is the South African T20 captain’s forte.

One of Ben Hilfenhaus and Samuel Badree has a great chance to play ahead of the injured Dwayne Bravo. If Badree plays, he will be up against Ajinkya Rahane and Sanju Samson in his next fixture, both of whom will nullify his threat. So, the schedule mantra doesn’t hold good in the leg-spinner’s case. However, if Hilfenhaus plays, he is worth a gamble given he will be up against susceptible players of swing bowling in both the fixtures.

Delhi Daredevils:

While Dinesh Karthik played a very good knock against Kolkata Knight Riders, it is advisable to wait and gauge if he is actually back to form or fooling around. Morever, he has his tendency to run himself out, which doesn’t inspire confidence, as well.

I had JP Duminy out of the last match despite it being a great chance to use schedule mantra and have him in, going by the school of thinking that he is vulnerable against Sunil Narine and also had chances of getting demoted in favour of Ross Taylor. Both those fears were realised, with him not finding it easy to score against Narine and getting demoted, but he somehow managed to escape both the traps and play a match-winning knock.

Since it doesn’t make sense to have him now with DD not playing their second match any sooner, he continues to remain out of the team. The same logic I used for keeping Jacques Kallis out against Daredevils, one that has plenty of risk but a good chance of coming off at the same time. The possible promotions of Manoj Tiwary and Ross Taylor/Kevin Pietersen stand in the way, as well.

If Hilfenhaus doesn’t play, Mayank Agarwal makes the cut as the uncapped player for this match. If CSK does play Hilfenhaus, Ishwar Pandey, provided he makes it to the playing 11, could be the best choice. If none of these works out, Shahbaz Nadeem and Pawan Negi look good for 40 points each.

While I will be back for the next couple of matches – just to make sure I am on track with respect to the transfer count – I would like to point out that the last two matches will require 2 changes at the maximum.