IPL 2018 Fantasy Guru: What your team should look like for CSK vs KKR

Chennai Super Kings could either bring Murali Vijay in and push Ambati Rayudu down to No. 4, or make it a straight swap with Dhruv Shorey, the Delhi right-hander who has been in excellent form of late, to make up for the loss of Kedar Jadhav. Their batting, however, still looks thin at the moment, with Ravindra Jadeja batting as high as No. 6.

England all-rounder David Willey, expected to join the Super Kings camp soon, will carry with him a solution to all these concerns. By making him open the innings, his best batting position in limited overs cricket, Chennai can play both Rayudu and Shorey in the middle and lengthen their batting order.

A playing XI of S Watson, D Willey, S Raina, A Rayudu, D Shorey, MS Dhoni, D Bravo, D Chahar, R Jadeja, H Singh/K Sharma, M Wood/L Ngidi gives them better batting depth as well as more bowling options.

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Kolkata Knight Riders managed to get away with a win against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their opening encounter, but they, too, have a lot of questions to answer. How soon Chris Lynn and Robin Uthappa hit the ground running will decide how far the two-time champions travel this season.

While Mitchell Johnson gives them an attacking option up front, their bowling attack doesn’t have the luxury to afford that and hence they will be better off picking someone like Tom Curran, who is more adept at the death. The spots of Vinay Kumar and Rinku Singh should come under the scanner soon as well if they haven’t already.

Fantasy Zone

Subs used – 0; Subs remaining -71

(Uncapped) Rahul Tripathi out – Nitish Rana in

Uncapped preference order: Nitish Rana, Deepak Chahar, Rinku Singh

Captaincy preference order: Suresh Raina, Shane Watson, Sunil Narine, Dwayne Bravo, Chris Lynn

While Watson needs some cheap wickets to be amongst the points this match, Suresh Raina will feel at home playing at Chepauk against a spin-heavy attack. Dwayne Bravo, on the other hand, can’t be expected to contribute with the bat, considering how low he bats and the general decline in his batting ability over the last few years, but his death bowling always makes him a safe option.

I don’t have any of the three in my team, and since CSK play next only after a gap of six matches, there is no point in wasting a sub now either.

The decision to bring in Chris Lynn and Kuldeep Yadav from KKR was taken keeping in mind both these fixtures and the lack of clarity in Sunil Narine’s batting position. I will have to stand by that and hope it pays off in this match.

Guru's season fantasy team ahead of CSK vs KKR: C Lynn (c), E Lewis, A Rahane, S Dhawan, L Rahul, N Rana, K Gowtham, B Stokes, K Yadav, M Markande, B Kumar