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

Subs used – 1; Subs remaining – 17

Krunal Pandya out – Ambati Rayudu in

(Uncapped) Shahbaz Nadeem out – Krishnappa Gowtham in

Uncapped preference order: Krishnappa Gowtham, Deepak Chahar, Dhruv Shorey

Captain – Jofra Archer (if RR bowl first)

Captaincy preference: Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Ambati Rayudu

Differentials – Sanju Samson and Ben Stokes

Multiplier remaining – 2

Guru’s team ahead of RR vs CSK: J Buttler, A Rayudu, R Pant, KL Rahul, S Iyer, R Uthappa, A Russell, S Kaul, B Kumar, J Archer, K Gowtham

If the season trend at the venue is anything to go by, batsmen are in for another day of hard work, so there may not be great fantasy value in the game today. With Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer, Rajasthan Royals’ two best picks, already in my team, the only other players who are worth considering are Sanju Samson, Ambati Rayudu, and Shane Watson.

Rayudu is back opening the innings and is a good player of spin bowling, so there is no point keeping him out given the form he is in. Watson, on the other hand, has a couple of threats in Archer and Ish Sodhi, and with MS Dhoni not using him regularly with the ball, I don’t see the Australian all-rounder as a must-have, more so with Chennai Super Kings playing Sunrisers Hyderabad next.

Samson, on the other hand, could turn out to be a decent differential. While it is true that he has managed to cross the 40-run mark only twice in the last seven innings, there has been no indication of him losing his form.

I, however, had a choice to make between dropping him and KL Rahul ahead of the DD-SRH match and keeping in mind the likely behavior of the Jaipur deck and that I will have to again spend a sub on bringing back Rahul in, I opted to get rid of the former.

Dhoni is unlikely to do a lot of damage today as he will have to deal with the pace and bounce of Archer at the death, and Suresh Raina and Ben Stokes haven't done enough to waste subs on them at this stage of the tournament. Ish Sodhi got plenty of assistance from the deck against Kings XI Punjab, and if you are playing daily fantasy, this is a player you do not want to miss out on.