IPL 2017 Fantasy Tips: Setting up your team - Part 1

Rounds for Schedule Mantra in IPL 2017

Regular readers of my blog would know what Schedule Mantra means: a ploy that is used to get maximum value per transfer. To get the most out of a player in your team, however, you should first know what constitutes a round in a tournament. It is nothing but how long a team takes to play a minimum of two matches.

In IPL 2017, the fastest a team plays twice is through a total of three tournament matches. There are 10 such two-match rounds in this edition, with RPSG, KXIP and DD playing two of them each, while GL none. The first team to play twice in a round is Rising Pune Super Giant: they take on MI at home (M2) and KXIP away (M4).

The fastest a team plays thrice is through a total of five matches. There are only two such spans in the entire tournament – played first by RCB, who take on KKR away (M27), SRH home (M29) and GL home (M31), and then KXIP, who take on GL home (M47), KKR home (M49) and MI away (M51).

Since there are only two such occurrences of a team playing thrice across a total of five tournament matches (which makes it more the exception than the norm) and plenty in a total of seven and eight matches, you can stretch the definition of a round in this particular case to six matches.

If you do so, you will find that there are six different instances of a team playing thrice through six tournament matches: except KXIP and GL, every other team does it once. The first team to do so is, again, Mumbai Indians. The stretch starts from their second match of the tournament, when they take on KKR at home, and goes on till Match 12 – basically an extension of their two-match round we were discussing earlier.

There is only one instance of a four-match round, with RCB being the fastest to play four – across a total of eight tournament matches. This is again an extension of the three-match round we were looking at earlier: M27 to M34.

When you come across such rounds, employ Schedule Mantra and pack your team with as many players as possible from the teams involved. We will discuss the specific cases as we move further into the season.

Fantasy preview – Royal Challengers Bangalore

Gayle doesn’t have a single 50 in his last 10 T20s

Scout Report:

Shane Watson has hinted at opening the innings in the absence of KL Rahul and Virat Kohli. That seems logical on the face of it, as the only other opening option they have is Mandeep Singh.

That Rahul is injured also opens up the wicket-keeping debate. Their head coach Daniel Vettori has narrowed it down to AB de Villiers and Kedar Jadhav. At this point of AB’s career and with his recurring fitness issues, I don’t think he will risk going down that road, so it has to be Jadhav. I am not sure if the bowlers will be too happy about that though.

The left-arm pacer Aniket Choudhary was bought for INR 2 crore, and I don’t see him sitting out.

Predicted Playing XI: Chris Gayle, Shane Watson, AB de Villiers, Mandeep Singh, Kedar Jadhav (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Stuart Binny, Pawan Negi, Yuzvendra Chahal, Tymal Mills, Aniket Choudhary

The whys and wherefores of the XI:

There are a couple of contentious spots in this XI. Negi’s is one; Sreenath Aravind, Iqbal Abdulla, and Harshal Patel could compete for the same place, but the batting cushion the Delhi all-rounder offers could swing it in his favour.

The other would be Mandeep, who is both a better player and, after his international debut and regular India A appearances, a bigger name than Sachin Baby, his only challenger.

The likes of Avesh Khan, Praveen Dubey, Adam Milne, and Billy Stanlake are likely to warm the bench for the entire season. Depending on what department needs strengthening, Travis Head or Samuel Badree could come into the picture if Gayle fails to deliver.

Fantasy Factors:

Gayle doesn’t have a single 50 in his last 10 T20s. I don’t think I will be too upset if that is going to change against the best bowling attack in the league. Stays out.

Given his form and that he is likely to keep wickets, Jadhav could be a quality budget pick, but the right-hander still needs to be played in the top 4. I will wait to confirm this and then, if necessary, bring him into my team.

Watson’s all-round potential makes him an obvious choice. AB is, well, AB. I would be very surprised if Mills and Chahal aren’t in the top 10 wicket-takers list by the end of the tournament. Be quick to make Mills the differential before he does something very big and gets into everyone's team.

Fantasy Player Value Order: Watson, AB, Mills, Chahal

Tournament call: If the rest of the crew can keep the ship afloat till their captain is back, which they should do with ease, there is absolutely no reason why Kohli can’t lift the trophy. Easy Top 4.

What they lack: A dependable wicket-keeper

Sunrisers Hyderabad

‘The Fizz’ himself has been quoted saying he is likely to give this year’s IPL a miss

Scout Report:

There is nothing official yet on Mustafizur Rahman’s availability. The BCB wants him to skip the tournament. His captain Mashrafe Mortaza has put pressure on him by demanding the same in a press conference.

‘The Fizz’ himself has been quoted saying he is likely to give this year’s IPL a miss. What is guaranteed, however, is that with him in Sri Lanka playing a bilateral series against the home side, he will definitely not play the first match.

Predicted Playing XI: David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan, Moises Henriques, Yuvraj Singh, Deepak Hooda, Mohammad Nabi, Naman Ojha (wk), Chris Jordan*, Pravin Tambe*, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra

The whys and wherefores of the XI:

I have gone by a typical T20 franchise’s mindset with the playing XI here, but I will tell you why spending time on this is a pointless thing to do.

B Kumar, A Nehra, P Tambe, C Jordan, M Nabi

B Kumar, A Nehra, P Tambe, C Jordan, R Khan

B Kumar, A Nehra, B Sran, R Khan, M Nabi

B Kumar, A Nehra, B Sran, C Jordan, R Khan

B Kumar, A Nehra, B Sran, C Jordan, M Nabi

B Kumar, A Nehra, B Sran, P Tambe, B Cutting, C Jordan

B Kumar, A Nehra, B Sran, P Tambe, B Cutting, R Khan

B Kumar, A Nehra, B Sran, P Tambe, B Cutting, M Nabi

The Sunrisers could play eight different bowling combinations, logically reason every single of them, call it a match-winning unit and be right as well. That is how good they are.

For the match against RCB, if it comes to Nabi and Rashid Khan for one spot, the former’s batting ability would give him the edge. Also, his off-spin will be looked at as an option to counter the Gayle threat up top.

Despite Ben Cutting’s last year's heroics, I suspect he will have to wait for his chance. The big-hitting all-rounder’s BBL batting form (78 runs in 9 matches at 13) this year doesn’t help his case either.

Henriques’ flexibility with the bat and his BBL form (263 runs in 10 matches at an average of 29 and SR of 142) will help him make the starting XI. But he needs to do a lot better than last year to hold on to his place, with so many able replacements around.

Kane Williamson, Ricky Bhui, Siddarth Kaul and Ben Laughlin will find it extremely difficult to get a game this season, while Eklavya Dwivedi, Tanmay Agarwal, Mohammad Siraj, Abhimanyu Mithun and Vijay Shankar would keep Hooda, Ojha and Sran on their heels.

Fantasy Factors:

Warner was in the form of his life when he came to India, having eventually cracked 50-overs cricket

Don’t let David Warner’s Test form fool you into believing he might not do well this time around. In cricket, potential overrides form. Warner was in the form of his life when he came to India, having eventually cracked 50-overs cricket, but his Test batting potential in subcontinental conditions is average at best, which is why he wasn’t able to convert his form.

In T20s and 50-over cricket, he wouldn’t be challenged as much by spinners, so I expect him to do well.

Dhawan and Yuvraj have hardly been dependable, so I am not really interested in them at the moment. Hooda, among India’s top three shorter format talents without an LOI debut, could turn out to be one of the most sought-after budget picks this year if he bats at No. 3.

B Kumar will be the team’s go-to option with the new ball and, in the absence of Fizz, at the death as well, which makes him a red-hot favourite for the season-ending top 10 wicket-takers’ list.

Nehra could be equally effective, but being an injury threat, he is not on my radar. It is too early to consider the likes of Nabi, Rashid and Jordan. Let them cement their spot in the team. Henriques struggled against spinners last year, so I wouldn’t rush into picking him either.

Fantasy player order: D Warner, B Kumar, A Nehra

Tournament call: The batting unit just needs to put competitive totals on the board and watch their bowling attack do the magic. Easy Top 4.

What they lack: A clutch middle order player, who could both stabilise and switch gears if Warner gets out early.

Note: We haven’t yet decided on which site to base this year’s fantasy guru on. Once we do, you will get the exact playing XIs as usual.