Kings XI Punjab vs Sunrisers Hyderabad
Transfers made – 1; Transfers remaining – 18
Virat Kohli out – David Warner in
(Uncapped) Murugan Ashwin out – KC Cariappa in
Batting captain – David Warner
Bowling captain – Mustafizur Rahman
Batting captaincy options – David Warner, Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan
Vijay will be facing a much better new ball bowling attack, so the choice for me is between Warner and Dhawan. Of the two, I would prefer Warner because the boundaries here are bigger and you need some serious power to clear them.
The idea behind keeping Vijay out last game was that the first of his two matches was in Vizag, the most venomous deck I have seen this tournament, and the second against the best bowling attack of the tournament – Sunrisers Hyderabad. The ploy failed, partly because of how badly Mumbai Indians batted and partly because of Vijay’s form.
I can’t panic and bring him in now; I will stick to my plan of keeping him out, hoping the Sunrisers new ball bowlers nail him. Even if he escapes, I don’t see him carrying on to get a really big score today.
Bowling captaincy options – Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mustafizur Rahman, Ashish Nehra, Sandeep Sharma, Marcus Stoinis and Mohit Sharma
Plenty of options here. You can pretty much go with anyone and get a couple of wickets. I prefer Mustafizur, as he is the best of the two I have. It’s not easy slogging him out of a ground as big as this, and the Punjab lower middle order is very weak as well.
Nature of the deck – Flat
Uncapped player order – KC Cariappa, Deepak Hooda
SRH – Fantasy Clinchers
SRH need to realise where it is going wrong for them before it’s too late – repeatedly sending Kane Williamson at 3 after good opening stands breaks the flow of the game. It just won't work. They could instead use Deepak Hooda to attack spinners or one of Moises Henriques and Yuvraj Singh depending on the type of bowlers who are expected to bowl in the middle period.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Williamson gets dropped today in favour of Eoin Morgan, who, on any day, adds more value to this team. The rest of the playing XI should remain the same.
KXIP – Fantasy Clinchers
Hashim Amla hasn’t done much, but they hardly have any players worth replacing him, so he should play this match. Same applies to David Miller as well. Anureet Singh might come back in, but apart from that, there is no reason for them to change their playing XI.
Match call – SRH to win if they don’t shoot themselves in the foot with Williamson again.
Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Daredevils
Transfers made – 2; Transfers remaining – 16
Shikhar Dhawan out – Chris Morris in
David Warner out – Amit Mishra in
(uncapped) Mustafizur Rahman out – Karun Nair in
Batting captain – Karun Nair (if he plays at 3)
Bowling captain – Chris Morris (if DD bowl first)/ Jasprit Bumrah (if MI bowl first)
Batting captaincy options – Rohit Sharma, Quinton De Kock, Ambati Rayudu and Karun Nair
I don’t expect batsmen to do much on this deck, so I am not wasting my substitutions on any of them. I will instead get Karun Nair in as a free substitute and captain him. This might change if he doesn't bat at No.3, though.
Also with only two matches remaining for Mumbai and with them being well spread, I am looking to avoid their players as much as possible.
Bowling captaincy options – Chris Morris, Amit Mishra, Harbhajan Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Imran Tahir, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Mitchell McClenaghan
This is a very dry deck and therefore, captaining spinners might not be a bad idea. I don’t usually do that though, because good teams generally play them out. The only exception to this in this match is Imran Tahir, who bowls at the death.
I will be going in with Chris Morris or Jasprit Bumrah, depending on which team bowls first.
Nature of the deck – A bowler’s paradise, expect both swing and spin.
Uncapped player order – Karun Nair (if he plays at 3), Krunal Pandya, Shreyas Gopal and Shahbaz Nadeem
MI – Fantasy Clinchers
Mumbai could bring in Martin Guptill today, but I don’t think he can do well on this deck. I would instead have Corey Anderson replacing Tim Southee.
I have said this before and I will say it again - they need to play the leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal on decks like Vizag. With Krunal Pandya not being someone who spins the ball, Mumbai have been getting exposed on dry decks this season. Nitish Raina should be the one to sacrifice his spot.
DD – Fantasy Clinchers
DD’s horses for courses policy could see Tahir coming in for Coulter-Nile today. Shahbaz Nadeem could also make his way back into the team in place of Jayant Yadav. The rest of the playing XI should remain the same.
Match call – Even-stevens. Mumbai, however, will get the edge if they play Shreyas Gopal and Corey Anderson.
