IPL 2014: Fantasy Guru - Imran Tahir and Praveen Kumar come with plenty to add to both IPL and fantasy teams
If you think that you have started a little too late for the official IPL Fantasy League 2014, you can always play this alternative version of fantasy cricket where you can win cash prizes daily - SportskeedaFantasyLeague. The next round has two matches featuring four teams: Delhi Daredevils, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.
In this type of fantasy cricket, while assembling your playing 11 for the two matches, make sure you don’t miss out on players like Quinton de Kock, Lokesh Rahul, Praveen Kumar, Ben Hilfenhaus and Imran Tahir who could prove to be the differential at a comparatively lower rate. While you can play for free, if you choose to play with an entry fee to Rs 35, you can win Rs 300. You can pay upto Rs 1,150 and win Rs 10,000 in cash for every round.
Disclaimer: The article doesn’t account for Bailey blunders (in general, the captaincy abilities these days). Although the Fantasy Guru takes into account the captaincy skills of the captains in concern, they continue to scale higher levels of ridiculousness, which necessitates the need for the disclaimer.
Delhi Daredevils vs. Sunrisers Hyderabad:
Guru’s team for the DD vs. SRH match
Scenario 1: (No Imran Tahir)
Transfers made – 0; Transfers remaining – 36
Karn Sharma in – Pravin Tambe out
Captain – Shikhar Dhawan/David Warner
Scenario 2: (Imran Tahir in – Scenario 1 + 1 substitution)
Imran Tahir in – David Miller out (Imran Tahir not yet included in the list of players)
Captain – Imran Tahir
The most obvious pick from the Delhi Daredevils side would be JP Duminy. However, if I take him now, I will have to throw him out before he plays his second match. With the Daredevils and Duminy stubborn in sticking to the No. 5 position, I don’t want to waste a transfer on him.
The real Kevin Pietersen can turn up any time soon, but it is a gamble my fantasy team can’t afford to take at this point of time. Dinesh Karthik is a hit and miss type of a player to be trusted upon when the Daredevils don’t play their second match any sooner.
Having packed my team with batsmen from Sunrisers Hyderabad, I really hope Imran Tahir doesn’t play tomorrow. The wily leg-spinner has shown his ability to pick wickets on flat decks, and, given Aaron Finch and David Warner’s inability to play spinners, he would go full throttle against the Sunrisers’ batsmen. He has got that extra bit of ‘Oomph factor’, as Shane Warne would like to call it, about him, and it helps to get that zip on these pitches.
Should you have Tahir in your team, then? Highly tempting, so I would say ‘yes’. Transfer out David Miller in that case. Miller’s next fixture is against Kolkata Knight Riders; Although it is a flat deck, him coming in will coincide with Sunil Narine bowling his majority of the overs. Despite Cuttack being a placid strip, it is never a gamble worth taking. Also, Miller next plays Sunrisers’ at Hyderabad, a rank turner.
The only way the South African stalwart can score against the Knight Riders is if Virender Sehwag and Glenn Maxwell draw Gautam Gambhir out of his comfort zone and make him bowl the KKR captain’s trump card upfront. It will give Miller a free license against lesser threatening bowlers down the order.
I don’t see the need for any other player from these two teams for this fixture.
Uncapped player pick:
Lokesh Rahul is the best uncapped player in contention for a spot from this match. Batting at No. 3, he could easily produce a 35-ball 40 against a weak Daredevils bowling attack. I already have him in my team. So, I bring in the next best bet Karn Sharma, as well. The Railways leggie has been in prime touch and could come in handy. Although Karn cannot be expected to get great points, I can’t employ the uncapped player trick here, as the Chennai Super Kings’ and Mumbai Indians’ players don’t look promising, as well. Hence I don’t find an alternative but to pick the leg-spinner.
Siddarth Kaul is an exciting addition to the team, but the way he was used in his last match was shocking to say the least. His strength lies in his ability to swing the new ball; what good will he be if he is only given 1 over in the Powerplay?
Chennai Super Kings vs. Mumbai Indians:
Guru’s team for the CSK vs. MI match
Scenario 1: (Praveen Kumar in)
Transfers made – 2; Transfers remaining – 34
Rohit Sharma in – Shikhar Dhawan out
Praveen Kumar in – David Warner out (Praveen Kumar not yet included in the list of players)
Ishwar Pandey in – Karn Sharma out
Captain – Suresh Raina/Rohit Sharma
Scenario 2: (No Praveen Kumar)
Brendon McCullum in – David Warner out
Rohit Sharma in – Shikhar Dhawan out
Ishwar Pandey in – Karn Sharma out
Captain – Brendon McCullum/Suresh Raina/Rohit Sharma
The first pick for this match should be Rohit Sharma. There is absolutely no hindrances whatsoever in him making it big against the Super Kings, more so when you consider the woeful death bowling unit the opposition possesses.
While Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum look solid to give Man-of-the-Match performances, Mumbai can stop them both by playing Praveen Kumar. There is no substitute to quality swing bowling, and, with the match being played at night, the Uttar Pradesh medium pace bowler can swing the opposition top order out.
Although if Praveen doesn’t get the nod, bring in one of the openers into the team; I choose to go in with Brendon McCullum due to his superior ability in playing Lasith Malinga.
With Pragyan Ojha not in the team and out of form, Mumbai Indians have nothing in them to stop the opening duo in the absence of Praveen. Lasith Malinga will not be a threat when you don’t try to attack him, and the CSK openers are smart enough to know that. While Dwayne has to defend him out, McCullum has the ability to take on Malinga.
The logic here being if Praveen plays, he would make McCullum and Dwayne take unwarranted risks even if he doesn’t get them out.