IPL 2014: Fantasy Guru - Watch Schedule Mantra at work

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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 Ben Hilfenhaus, Karn Sharma, Ishwar Pandey and Chris Lynn 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.

From a fantasy point of view, the last couple of days have been terrible, to say the least. When one of your captains gets run out (Rohit Sharma), other is at the receiving end of one of the worst decisions you will ever see (Virat Kohli), and your 3 notable substitutions show why they deserved to be picked but fall short of giving enough points as a result of either disappointing performances from their team or the opposition (Kevin Pietersen, Darren Sammy and Kieron Pollard), you have every reason to wonder what on earth is happening at the United Arab Emirates. It is the IPL, apparently.

I can easily say that this has been my worst start to any fantasy tournament – with 15 of my 18 captaincy picks backfiring – yet the team finds itself to be in a healthy state.

I have never been a big supporter of doubling up the points for a captain; it should probably be there to make the game look real. It isn’t going to change, anyway.

Having had a look at few other fantasy cricket players I rate, the points and transfer count seem to range between 5300 to 6000 and 53-56, respectively. My team has accumulated 5384 points at the cost of 23 transfers. Had a couple more captaincy picks gone my way, it would have looked a lot better.

I don’t usually change my track, be it in relation to my captaincy picks or team strategy, unless and until I see myself falling short midway into the tournament. I have opted not to do it this time, too. It is too early to predict what the scores would look like by the end of the IPL, more so when the tourney shifts itself to a whole new set of venues halfway through.

Kolkata Knight Riders vs. Rajasthan Royals:

Guru’s team for the KKR vs. RR match

Transfers made – 2; Transfers remaining – 50

David Miller out – Jacques Kallis inChris Gayle out – Sunil Narine inYuzvendra Chahal out – Pravin Tambe inCaptain – Sunil NarineThe fact that the Knight Riders play 2 games in a 3-match round makes them fit into the Schedule Mantra scheme. In simple, even if you are uncertain about the points that they would bring you, just get them in. It doesn’t mean you transfer in the likes of Gautam Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan. While Sunil Narine is a no-brainer for tomorrow, I would have brooded over bringing in Kallis. But when he gives you two games, it doesn’t really matter.

Chris Lynn is the only other option who is worth considering. I haven’t yet seen him deliver on pitches that are challenging to bat. Against bowling attacks that are in good form – Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings – and on pitches that aid bowlers to an extent – Abu Dhabi and Ranchi, I wouldn’t have him even when Schedule Mantra can be applied to his team.

Rajasthan Royals:

When the Royals play only one game in a 3-match round in the IPL, Ajinkya Rahane will never make it into my team, as his limitations start surfacing outside Powerplay and he scores at 120 SR at best.

Shane Watson, by the time he comes into bat, will have to deal with Narine. Given his limited capabilities when it comes to dealing with spin bowlers, I would have him out, as well.

The rest bat too low to make an impact and none of Royals’ bowlers have been outstanding to disturb our fantasy teams.

Uncapped player pick:

Whenever the Royals play, you are spoilt for choices. Sanju Samson has shown his ability to play Narine, in IPL 2013; I do not quite understand how he did it, but I have seen him doing it.

It doesn’t matter much, as Narine would not bowl too many to him, given how Gambhir uses his strike bowler: 1 over in first 12 and 3 in last 8. There isn’t any real obstacle in getting him in, especially when he has got the brains. The 19-year-old is capable of playing Narine only when he is not forced to attack, so, if by any chance, the opening pair bats long and he comes in after the 12-over mark, he would be forced to go after Narine, which isn’t the best option. The possibilities of that happening are very less, though.

The other options that you have are Rajat Bhatia and Pravin Tambe. Tambe is more a wicket-taking option, while Bhatia is more conservative. Given a choice, I would always go with Tambe, as he is the Royals’ strike weapon.

Manish Pandey is what you would ideally term as a flat track bully. Given the variety that the Royals’ possess in their bowling armoury and the longer boundaries, he would find it difficult to do anything substantial.

I would go in with Tambe for tomorrow, as he will be up against a weak batting order that can implode anytime.

Simply put, Samson could score, but he wouldn’t make us feel for leaving him out; Tambe could wreck the Knights and make us bleed. When in doubt look at if the opposition has Yusuf Pathan, and you will get a clear idea.

Mumbai Indians vs. Sunrisers Hyderabad:

Guru’s team for MI vs. SRH match

Transfers made – 1; Transfers remaining – 49

Glenn Maxwell out – Lasith Malinga inCaptain – Aaron Finch

I have already got Rohit Sharma, Aaron Finch and Ambati Rayudu for this game.

I would love to have Darren Sammy, who was in my team so far for all of Sunrisers’ matches. I have never been in support of having players who come in at No. 5 or 6, as they don’t always get a chance to make an impact. Sammy and Sunrisers were a totally different kettle of fish, as, after the top 3, Sunrisers would have to turn to him for providing the finish. Sadly, they seem to be oblivious to it and continue to promote Venugopal Rao.

While Rao may very well get dropped after a couple of miserable performances, it would either be Naman Ojha and Manprit Juneja who will be coming in at number 5 and not Sammy. This fear chases me away from getting him back in the team.

When it comes to Mumbai, what tempts me is the fact that Mumbai fit into the Schedule Mantra: 2 matches in a 3-match round. I would like to go in with one more Mumbai Indians player. The choice here has to be between Kieron Pollard and Lasith Malinga.

Pollard, against Delhi Daredevils, showed clear signs of why I had wanted him in for the last two Mumbai Indians’s matches. The moment I saw him connect Yuzvendra Chahal, I knew he was close to back being the monster that he can be. With the second fixture in a good batting deck back in Mumbai, he could give points. However, the fact that Mumbai are experimenting too much with their batting order keeps me away from going for it.

On the other hand, Lasith Malinga against Sunrisers Hyderabad (weak middle order) and Kings X1 Punjab (an uncertain top 3 and a clueless tail order) doesn’t take too much thinking. So Malinga, after being out of my team for the last couple of fixtures (one came off very well, while a brain fade from Dinesh Karthik messed up the other to an extent), finds his spot again in my team.

Uncapped player pick:

Dale Steyn and Bhuvneshwar Kumar will takes minutes to sort out Aditya Tare, while Karn Sharma should fancy a couple of middle order wickets.

Chennai Super Kings vs. Kolkata Knight Riders:

Guru’s team for the CSK vs. KKR match

Transfers made – 1; Transfers remaining – 48

Aaron Finch out – Dwayne Smith inKarn Sharma out – Ishwar Pandey inCaptain – Suresh Raina

Quite obviously, the KKR part is done with. As regards to CSK, while I had gone with Brendon McCullum ahead of Dwayne Smith so far, Dwayne Smith makes his way in for this fixture, as he has a better account of Sunil Narine, the opposition’s major threat. It was on show for everyone to see when he negated his fellow countryman’s threat with ease in the last year’s match at Eden Gardens while representing Mumbai Indians.

With Suresh Raina in the team, I see no need for any other player to be considered. Yes, Mohit Sharma is picking up wickets in the last couple of games, but it is only a matter of time before he is being ripped apart by batsmen.

Uncapped player pick:

Ishwar Pandey against Manish Pandey and Gautam Gambhir, both of whom are susceptible to swing, looks good for a couple of wickets.