IPL 2014: Fantasy Guru unveils toss-trick

Guru’s team after the KXIP vs. DD match

May 20 Update:

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs. Sunrisers Hyderabad:

I regret to say that only a short update will be possible for the day.

Chris Gayle has great chances of coming off, but he needs to escape the first 5 overs for it to happen. It is a flat deck, and any damage, if done, has to be within the Powerplay by capitalising on the early swing on offer.

Virat Kohli looked good in the last innings, but he has always looked comfortable against spin. This time around, against the Sunrisers, he will be facing more of the pacers, who have had the better of him all through this IPL. It is unclear as to whether he has overcome his bad patch.

With AB de Villiers and Yuvraj Singh in, the only other player who is worth considering for this fixture is David Warner. Taking a player in now only makes sense if he can give me more than one match. I can’t carry him along for the next 3 matches. Is he worth a transfer when he can’t give me a second game? I don’t think so, as Yuzvendra Chahal and Mitchell Starc have troubled him in the past and are in fine form.

Adding to it, Aaron Finch or Shikhar Dhawan could easily come off and delay his entry, thereby reducing the number of balls he can face.

I expect a couple of early Royal Challengers wickets and a AB de Villiers show today. Chahal will get the nod ahead of Karan Sharma as the uncapped player, as he will be up against a more susceptible middle order.

Kolkata Knight Riders vs. Chennai Super Kings:

This should be a low-scoring affair. At Eden Gardens, 160 is a match-winning score, and that says it all. The spinners have always relished bowling on this wicket, which means the chances of Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum succeeding are very less.

Chennai Super Kings’ hopes will come down to how Suresh Raina plays and MS Dhoni finishes off the innings. Jadeja’s promotion could do the trick, too. David Hussey will struggle to score, again.

While I had gone with Robin Uthappa for the previous two fixtures, I will now take in Gautam Gambhir. With the Knight Riders’ next three matches at Eden Gardens, it needs the class of Gambhir, against spinners, to be amongst runs. With Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Sunil Narine in the team, I don’t see the need for any other spinners. Uthappa needs the ball to come onto the bat, and this wicket does exactly the opposite.

Shakib Al Hasan is a better bet than Piyush Chawla, but he is an overseas player.

Manish Pandey is the best uncapped player pick for this match, and I expect him to struggle big time, too. If Pawan Negi plays, he will get the nod ahead. Ishwar Pandey won’t get any assistance from the deck.

Gambhir will surely find his way into my team. Whether or not Raina makes it depends on what happens in the first fixture of the day. Who goes out for them also needs to be decided on how the first match pans out. The reason I say so is that the form of Kohli plays a major role in Yuvraj Singh’s success. If Kohli starts to fire, Yuvraj won’t be in my team.