IPL 2016: Fantasy Championship guide KKR v DD

Sometimes, taking things for granted leads to your downfall. And Mumbai Indians learned that the hard way last night. They took the Wankhede batting track for granted, didn’t put in the initial hard work to get a few partnerships going and ultimately perished for a meager total.

Batting first, on a flat Wankhede wicket (which wasn’t that flat this time round) they were expected to score at least 170 but a poor display of batting by the top order meant that they needed a Bhajji special to take them to a total of 121.

Now, who would be your best bet to play well while chasing a total of 120 odd? – Ajinkya Rahane.

He played it smooth, he played it without taking any risks and he played with class. His opening partner Faf du Plessis provided good support as well. But a lot of credit should be given to Ishant Sharma and co. for not being intimated by the inherent nature of the pitch and just going about their business as usual.

RPS couldn’t have asked for a better start and though everybody thought they would need some time to figure out their team combination, MS Dhoni and the team management got it spot on right from the start.

Now, when it comes to Fantasy cricket, yesterday was a day full of anxiousness and frustration for fantasy enthusiasts as the official IPL game refused to function. It is baffling how they couldn’t test the website in the 10 months between the last IPL and this one.

But as I write this article, the IPL website is up again and because I had submitted an ’auto completed’ team for the last game, I start afresh by making a new account and a new team setup!

Let’s get to business now!

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Daredevils

Yesterday there was swing; today there will be spin. The Eden Gardens has traditionally been a slow and sluggish surface and the KKR team management have always made it a point to have a lot of spinners in their squad. While Sunil Narine will not be available for this game as he is travelling back home due to the demise of his father, they still have Shakib Al Hasan, Brad Hogg, Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav to fall back on.

The Delhi side too has world-class spinners in Imran Tahir and Amit Mishra and both of these leg spinners would get good purchase from the Kolkata wicket.

But there is always this slight concern of dew making an appearance in the second innings and thus, I wouldn’t stack my team up with spinners from the team that is bowling second.

Delhi Daredevils have a new skipper in Zaheer Khan and he would be eager to wipe out the poor history of the Daredevils in the IPL and write a new and exciting chapter.

Remember, I am starting things afresh and thus I am going to be writing about my initial team setup here.

My first pick would be Andre Russell. Last year’s MVP and India’s conqueror in the semi-final, Russell has become one of the best T20 players in the world. KKR have used him intelligently as well, sending him up the order whenever they need up the ante and using him to bowl the death overs which just escalates his ‘point giving’ potential.

The next player I bring in Robin Uthappa. He was very unlucky to be overlooked by the selectors for the World T20 and would be raring to prove a point yet again. Last year he had been exceptional at the top of the order and his wicket keeping gives us an extra scoring option as well.

Shreyas Iyer is a star in the domestic circuit and it is only time that he makes his way into the Indian team setup. This IPL could go a long way in him getting a call-up to the Indian team and with his batting prowess, I am sure he’ll get through. Get him in!

Shakib Al Hasan bats in the top 5 and bowls his quota of 4 overs, enough for me to get him in my team. And with a lot of right-handers in the Delhi Daredevils his left-arm spin would be even more effective. Also, being a left-handed batsman would easily negotiate the spin trio of Imran Tahir, Amit Mishra, and Pawan Negi.

Now, if Delhi Daredevils bowl first, I get in Amit Mishra. I cannot go for Tahir because of the overseas player limit (because I want to get two overseas players for the next game between Gujarat Lions and Kings XI Punjab). On a spinning track, Mishra’s variation and control could be tough to deal with. In T20s he has picked up 183 wickets in 153 games at an average of 20.84 and an economy rate of exactly 7.

But if Delhi bat first, I get in either Piyush Chawla or Kuldeep Yadav, depending on who plays.

So, I go with 5 players for this game, 4 from the next and 2 from the game the day after.

The other players that make up my team are Brendon McCullum, DJ Bravo, Deepak Hooda, Murali Vijay, Sandeep Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan.

Brendon McCullum and Bravo are obvious choices as they are the best in the business at what they do. McCullum can give his team a blistering start and Bravo has time and again proved that his dipping slower balls cannot be scored off easily.

Hooda comes in because of his exploits in the IPL last time round and also because he has had a very successful Ranji season. Also, the fact that he comes in for just 7.5 makes him all the more desirable.

Sandeep Sharma swings the ball both ways and Murali Vijay has proved his worth time and again for all the franchises he has played for. I go for Shikhar Dhawan because of his batting position, the small ground at Bangalore and because I couldn’t find a better Indian batsman (and I had to select a batsman) in the Sunrisers team!

Captain for this game: Andre Russell

Safest choice.

More on these picks in tomorrow’s article

Do check out this space tomorrow for the fantasy tips for Kings XI Punjab vs Gujarat Lions

Happy team picking!