Transfers made – 2; Transfers remaining 12
Ajinkya Rahane out – Virat Kohli in
Steve Smith out – AB de Villiers in
(uncapped) Suresh Raina out – Manan Vohra in
Uncapped preference order: 1. Manan Vohra 2. T Natarajan 3. Aniket Choudhary
Captain – Virat Kohli (if T Head plays)/ AB de Villiers (if T Head doesn’t play)
Differential – Kedar Jadhav
Sneakers – Pawan Negi and Axar Patel
RCB – Fantasy Factors
With the way AB de Villiers batted against Mumbai Indians, it would be silly to go into the match against Kings XI Punjab today without the 33-year-old in your team, which makes him my first pick. That the Kings XI have a pop-gun bowling attack could result in this becoming a walk in the park for the South African stalwart.
Extra Cover: IPL 2017 RCB vs KXIP: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) today's probable playing XI against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP)
Virat Kohli, on the other hand, may not have been his usual self in the tournament so far, but he has still managed to score three 50s in seven innings, and did look good against Mumbai in the last match, too, before falling to an innocuous delivery from Mitchell McClenaghan. I see no reason to leave him out either, especially when I can carry him into his next match, against Kolkata Knight Riders at the same venue.
KXIP – Fantasy Factors
Coming to the Kings XI Punjab, there are issues with all the options in play: every single one of Martin Guptill, Hashim Amla, Shaun Marsh and Glenn Maxwell is in form, locks up an overseas slot, and has a relative effect on how the others perform. Guptill going berserk could result in Amla slowing down to facilitate him, while steady first and second wicket partnerships could severely impact Maxwell. And there is Manan Vohra as well, who could bat anywhere between No. 3 and No. 5
Further, I won’t be able to carry any of them into their second match, with Mumbai and Kolkata Knight Riders starting their next round of matches before the Maxwell-led side returns home to face Gujarat Lions. If you can still afford it, the choice has to be between Guptill and Amla. While the latter is more dependable, Guptill has been in the form of his life since the start of 2017.
Extra Cover: IPL 2017 RCB vs KXIP: Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) today's probable playing 11 against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)
I am, however, hoping Royal Challengers Bangalore bring back Samuel Badree, as it could go a long way in helping me pull this move off. Adding a quality spin option to an already in-form spin duo of Pawan Negi and Yuzvendra Chahal against a side that has stacked its top order with overseas batsmen could go only one away.
Sneakers
For a player to qualify as a sneaker, the basic requirement is that he be priced at 85K or under, is clearly in form, can be carried for more than 3 matches, and facilitates the squad combination or at least doesn’t disturb it. Both Pawan Negi and Axar Patel fit into this category.
Negi has had a decent tournament so far, with a steady flow of wickets and a couple of impressive cameos lower down the order. This has been the case with Axar Patel as well. If you can get them in and carry them until the end of the season, they could easily get you a minimum of 250 points. While Negi is clearly the better option today, Axar has two more matches than him in the longer run.
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