IPL 2014: Fantasy Guru - The kick-off strategy

Indian Premier League, the biggest and most popular T20 league on the planet is set to start on April 16 in UAE. Over the years, IPL’s growing popularity along with the social media boom has increased fantasy cricket participation many folds, bringing out a frenzy which was hitherto reserved for EPL enthusiasts.

Now Sportskeeda brings you advice from seasoned fantasy managers, who have experienced the highs and lows of fantasy cricket over the years, and have the knack of knowing when to make a move for those players who can help you take the unbeatable lead over your opponents in fantasy leagues! If you’re playing fantasy cricket on the official site, IPLT20.com, this is the space for you to watch out for!

Let us start with the fun aspect: IPL All Stars 11.

Fantasy Guru’s IPL All-Stars 11

One important point that you need to keep in mind while selecting a set of 11 players – who can’t be replaced – for the entire tournament:

Don’t gamble on the players who can be dropped. For example, selecting Brendon McCullum may come off very well and shower you with points, but you also entertain the risk of one of your players getting dropped. McCullum can get sidelined in favour of Faf du Plessis or Dwayne Smith midway through the tournament, as these pitches don’t really support his style of play. Not that it does for Dwayne, anyway.

That is my All Stars 11. You may notice a couple of notable exclusions: Lasith Malinga and Dale Steyn. I have gone for Michael Hussey and Darren Sammy ahead of them. While I am pretty sure about the latter, I am still contemplating over the former.

Fantasy Championship:

56 matches, 75 transfers

It’s not even 1.5 transfers per match, so you have to be frugal in the way you use them.

One aspect that will dictate this IPL fantasy season, unlike the previous ones, is the nature of the pitches. Therefore, transfers can’t be made at the usual rate. Also, generally, it isn’t a wise idea to waste transfers in the early part of the season when you don’t have an exact idea of who is going to bat where and bowl when. Imagine you picking up David Miller, and his captain George Bailey sends the South African big hitter at number 6.

It can happen, given Bailey’s captaincy skills. You must have seen Xavier Doherty being fed to Chris Gayle in the last over of the 2012 T20 World Cup semi-finals? Why go so far when something of similar note happened just days ago? Mitchell Starc, Doug Bollinger and Nathan Coulter-Nile were kept away from having a go at the Akmal brothers, when the pair was going berserk at the slower bowlers in the just concluded 2014 T20 World Cup.

As Bailey was busy executing the game-plan A in a group fixture, the match was being taken away right in front of his eyes. When a pace bowler was brought back eventually, he accounted for Kamran Akmal.

Coming back to Miller at 6, what would you do if you pick him and the KXIP top 6 is as follows?

1. Virender Sehwag
2. Mandeep Singh
3. Manan Vohra
4. George Bailey
5. Glenn Maxwell
6. David Miller

You may counter me saying that only one of Mandeep and Vohra will play, but what about Wriddhiman Saha, the only wicket-keeper of any stature in that squad, then? Or how about Maxwell coming in at number 6 when you have him in your team?

How would it be if you pick Faf du Plessis only to see him ignored in favour of Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum? Given Chennai Super Kings’ bizarre selection policies, I wouldn’t even be surprised to see Ben Hilfenhaus being preferred ahead of Samuel Badree. All these atrocities can happen.

Let’s not even start about chances of AB de Villiers batting at 5.

With men like Ravi Shastri most likely to do pitch reports, there isn’t much scope with expert analysis, either. The last time he said there were plenty of runs on offer on a track, India ended up restricting the oppositions to scores of 140 and below for a record 4 consecutive times (T20 World Cup 2014). So the only thing you can trust is your eyes: notice how the tracks behave. However, if Simon Doull does the pitch reports, you better watch out.

When you look at the scoring patterns at Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, it doesn’t reveal much either, may be because Pakistan have played in almost all of them. Who knows how they turn up on a particular day? One thing is for sure: not all the 3 will be slow and low.

There are too many factors that could simply put your team off track if you make the moves in haste. So this is the fantasy guru’s advice to you for the upcoming season: hold back, examine the way teams play, watch how pitches behave and then make your moves.

Confused? You have got no reasons to worry, for you have got me to assist throughout the tournament. I would tell you what I do and why I do. I will also alert you so that you stay away from committing grave mistakes that could turn these two months of top class entertainment, if you do it right and be in the race to top 100, into nothing.

If you are still not convinced, you need to understand that at some point of time, you need to hold back in your usage of transfers. Why shouldn’t it be at a stage when there are lot more risks involved? Even if Chris Gayle scores a 50-ball 100, there is no reason to panic, as you have got plenty of matches to compensate. However, if you gamble with your transfers now, you will not get them back.

With these aspects in mind, I have assembled my team for the first two matches. Why just the first two, you may ask? The 3rd and 4th matches are scheduled to be held at Abu Dhabi, a pitch which you would have got a reasonable account of after the first encounter between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians. So I will be back with a new article then based on my observations; you keep watching the space.

My finalised squad for the first match:

Fantasy Guru’s team

Changes to be made ahead of the second match:

1. Sunil Narine (KKR) out – Kevin Pietersen (DD) in (if he plays). If Pietersen doesn’t play, leave it as it is.
2. Manvinder Bisla (KKR) out – Mayank Agarwal (DD) (if he plays as an opener)/ Kedar Jadhav (DD) (if he plays in top 4)/ Siddarth Kaul (DD) in

Vijay Zol isn’t made for T20: None of the RCB uncapped players really impress me. Vijay Zol has never been a T20 player; it only highlights the naivete of those who think so. A hard-working youngster who could go places in the other two formats, he has serious limitations when it comes to big hitting.

Shahbaz Nadeem conundrum: When it’s DD, usually, Nadeem can be relied upon as the uncapped player eyes closed. On this occasion though, he will be bowling to Chris Gayle and Yuvraj Singh, two lefties. With the other two being Kohli and ABD, Nadeem could leak runs. This is why I have kept him out.