IPL 2018 Fantasy Guru: What your team should look like for KXIP vs RR 

Subs used – 4; Subs remaining – 23

Jos Buttler

Evin Lewis out – Chris Gayle in

Suryakumar Yadav out – Sanju Samson in

Andre Russell out – Jofra Archer in

Nitish Rana out – Jos Buttler (flat deck)/ Mujeeb Zadran (MI match deck) in

(Uncapped) Avesh Khan out – Krishnappa Gowtham in

Uncapped preference order: Krishnappa Gowtham, Ankit Rajpoot, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Tripathi

Captain – KL Rahul

Captaincy preference order: KL Rahul, Jofra Archer, Chris Gayle, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson

Differential – Ben Stokes

Multipliers remaining – 2

Guru’s team ahead of KXIP vs RR: C Gayle, KL Rahul, S Samson, V Kohli, AB de Villiers, K Pandya, S Kaul, B Kumar, J Archer, K Gowtham, J Buttler/M Zadran

I was initially planning to use my second multiplier in this fixture, but the indifferent nature of the Indore deck in the match against Mumbai Indians has made me reconsider it. Also, I see as many as five potential multiplier matches coming up, so I am in no hurry to use them as well.

It also doesn’t help that there are two bowlers – Mujeeb Zadran and Jofra Archer - featuring in this match who can completely wreck it if there is any assistance for them. So, moving on, I already have KL Rahul in my team. And I see no reason to leave out Archer and Sanju Samson with the Royals playing twice in three matches.

Chris Gayle has a couple of threats in this opposition bowling-up – Archer’s pace and his ability to bowl yorkers as and when he pleases and Krishnappa Gowtham’s off-spin. But he will be there in every single team, and with KXIP also playing their next game in two days time, it isn’t worth leaving him out.

The key to Gayle’s great success in T20 cricket is that he is smart enough to see off bowlers he isn’t comfortable against; if you know he has a weakness against a particular bowler, he knows it as well. So unless Jofra bowls a brute of a delivery, he will be alright.

That’s three players in. The fourth is where it gets tricky: Jos Buttler or Zadran? If it is the usual Indore deck, Buttler, when he is opening the innings and keeping wickets, is a no-brainer.

But considering the last one was a slower deck and the next game at Rajasthan, another deck that has proved to be difficult for batsmen this season, Mujeeb could turn to be as good as well. See if you can get any clues from the pitch report and toss and decide accordingly.