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IPL Fantasy Guru: Keep an eye on impact performers

Rohit Sharma will be the key batsman for the Mumbai Indians
Rohit Sharma will be the key batsman for the Mumbai Indians

If you have come into this straight after playing the official ICC World Cup fantasy game, the first thing you have to keep in mind is that you can’t be as liberal with transfers here as you were during the World Cup. 75 transfers in 56 games is not even 1.5 transfers per game, and that is where it gets doubly tough. Unless you play your cards right, you will be left high and dry half-way into the season.

It is never a great idea to spend your transfers in the first stage of a tournament, as you will have no idea at the start of how the teams plan to go about their season, the players’ form and the types of decks on offer. The teams’ strategies will play an important role in determining how your picks fare.

For example, you can get in Faf du Plessis, who has an excellent track record for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), but if he plays at No. 4, which he is likely to, his fantasy potential would effectively be killed. In a fast-paced format like T20 cricket, Du Plessis is not really a great option in the middle order and to make matters worse, he could be demoted even further if the Super Kings get off to a good start. 

Similarly, Dinesh Karthik can be an asset if he opens the batting with Chris Gayle for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), but it is likely that he will be slotted to bat at No. 5. 

Fantasy Guru's team for the season opener
Fantasy Guru's team for the season opener

Remember this – it is impossible to get in all players who will end up scoring points; what matters is that the players who we pick give us good returns. One way of making sure this happens is by getting in players who can give you more games before you transfer them out.

While the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and the Super Kings play twice in the first round (’round’ in this article refers to the first five matches), I have decided against stacking up my team with players from these two sides for one important reason – I don’t see any potential point-scorers other than the ones I have picked. There is a fine line between doing it right and overdoing it, which I will explain later in the article. 

Be measured with your transfers, but at the same time, don’t miss out on impact players. 

High impact performances alert

Note: Players who play two matches in the first round aren’t included in the list. ‘Impact’ here refers to single game impact.

Rohit Sharma vs KKR: Bounce, pace, spin, mystery, left-arm angle – you name it and the Kolkata Knight Riders will have it. Therefore, Mumbai will need Rohit Sharma to deliver if they are to compete against what looks like a full-strength Knight Riders unit. A T20 rockstar, the Mumbai captain is the only batsman in the star-studded team who has the potential to handle what the KKR bowlers will bring to the table in the season opener. 

Yuvraj Singh vs CSK: In the last one year, whenever I have seen him, Yuvraj has been at his fluent best on good batting decks. I expect this to be a high-scoring encounter, so don’t rule the southpaw out. The Super Kings don’t have a great bowling attack either.

Glenn Maxwell vs RR: I don’t see how Rajasthan Royals are going to stop Glenn Maxwell. They neither have the pace bowlers to bounce him out nor genuine spin options. Pravin Tambe is their best bet to get rid of the Australian all-rounder, especially with his weakness against leg-spin, but Tambe is ageing and doesn’t usually spin the ball much.

SRH openers v CSK: I wouldn't be surprised to see Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner cashing in on the mediocre bowling attack of the Super Kings in what is expected to be yet another high-scoring affair. While Dhawan is in great form, Warner usually comes into his own in T20s.

Kolhi and ABD vs KKR: The Knight Riders will run through the RCB top order, thereby bringing AB de Villiers into play. Kohli, on the other hand, is back in familiar territory.  

Spinners will have to toil hard: I don’t expect the decks to assist spinners this time around; the two decks that offered assistance to slower bowlers – Edens Gardens and Chepauk – have been flat for two seasons now, so unless they have changed since I last saw them, they should remain the same way. But don’t discount the spinners completely. It is not like the overseas batsmen need a minefield to be put in place, and unorthodox spinners don’t really need decks to be effective.

Match No. 2: Transfers made – 0; Transfers remaining – 75

Uncapped player pick: Jasprit Bumrah out – Shahbaz Nadeem in

Fantasy Guru's team for the CSK vs DD match
Fantasy Guru's team for the CSK vs DD match

Double game focus – Kolkata Knight Riders

With Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav, Sunil Narine, Shakib Al Hasan and Kuldeep Yadav in their bowling attack, the defending champions have got most aspects covered as far as their bowling unit is concerned. Add to that an aggressive captain in Gautam Gambhir, and life won’t be easy for opposition batsmen. Accordingly, I don’t expect the likes of Chris Gayle, Rilee Rossouw, Corey Anderson, Kieron Pollard and Lendl Simmons to do much damage. 

I had a look at the players’ list and the budget at which players come, and the one thing I decided right away was that Kuldeep Yadav would be my first pick. I have no idea why he is priced at only 650K. The left-arm chinaman bowler is a huge asset for the Kolkata-based franchise and should be amongst the top 15 point-scorers this season if he takes his CLT20 2014 form forward.

Robin Uthappa will be the second pick from this team. In addition to being one of the front-runners for the Orange Cap this year, he also has a secondary scoring option in wicket-keeping. There is no reason to leave him out, especially for these two matches, as neither MI nor RCB (in the absence of Mitchell Starc) have a potent new ball bowler who could exploit the right-hander's weakness against swing bowling.

It wasn’t easy leaving out Shakib and Narine, but both have their drawbacks – I am not sure how effective Narine would be after remodelling his action, and the likes of Rohit, De Villiers and Kohli play the off-spinner well even when he is at his best. Gayle, Simmons, Dinesh Karthik and Pollard, meanwhile, are more than capable of seeing off his threat too.

Shakib’s effectiveness with the ball will be hampered by the flat decks, and he could well be moved down to No. 5 in the batting order to accommodate Yusuf Pathan. If you compare their bowling in general, Narine would be reserved for the death where his wicket-taking chances are higher, while Shakib would be bowled up front.

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