IPL Fantasy League 2016 Tips: RCB vs RPSG and KXIP vs DD

I haven’t used the usual format since there are a lot of factors in play today

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rising Pune Supergiants

Batting captaincy options – Virat Kohli, Ab de Villiers (if he bats at 3), Ajinkya Rahane, Usman Khawaja, KL Rahul (if he opens) and Chris Gayle

While their bowling attack is the main culprit, RCB aren’t really helping themselves with their on-field tactics – the latest being Kohli demoting himself to No.3. Pushing Kohli down not just reduces the impact he can have on the game but it also has an effect on AB de Villiers and Shane Watson, who get lesser number of overs as well. 

How well KL Rahul bats doesn’t really matter – he is not going to win the match for the team. It wasn’t surprising to me that he failed to carry on in the last 2 innings and the team eventually lost having scored lesser than what they should have.

RCB will have to either drop Gayle and open with Rahul and Kohli or push Rahul down and let Gayle and Kohli start the innings – Kohli has to be the constant here, as it gives De Villiers the best stage to do what he usually does – taking the game away from the opposition. 

Coming to the topic here, if Kohli opens, it makes the job easy – captain him or De Villiers. Being a sucker for certainty, I will, as usual, go in with Kohli. If he doesn't, it messes things up big time - De Villiers goes out of the equation and for Kohli to score more than just a half-century, you will have to hope for one of the two openers to get out soon.

This match is the prime reason that I brought Gayle into my team – a weak bowling attack on a batting paradise. There are a lot of flawed theories going around like how Gayle is weak against bounce and how he is coming back after a break. His on-field and off-field issues mean he spends a lot of time away off the game usually, which nullifies his “break theory”.

As far as his ability to play bounce is concerned, the last time Gayle played South Africa in South Africa, which was in 2015, he scored two consecutive 90s in T20s. More than the bounce, it's the nature of the deck and the size of the ground that hampers him. On a flat wicket and in a ground as small as Bangalore, I would back Gayle to come out on top more often than not.

Bowling captaincy options – Shane Watson, Scott Boland and Yuzvendra Chahal

Unless you have a bowler of the quality of Mitchell Starc or Mustafizur Rahman, there can never be outstanding bowling captaincy options in Bangalore. However in the last match that was played here, I saw the pitch being dry and assisting spinners – if you see any signs of it, get Chahal in and captain him instead of wasting a transfer on a capped player. If it’s flat, it obviously has to be Watson.

Nature of the deck – Usually flat, but the last one was dry and slow. Watch out for what the captains say at the toss.

Uncapped player order – Yuzvendra Chahal, Rajat Bhatia, Murugan Ashwin

RCB – Fantasy Clinchers

Chris Jordan is most likely to play today. Even RCB can’t be that naive to leave him out after what has been happening to them this tournament. But what will be more important is the player he replaces – Tabraiz Shamsi or Chris Gayle.

In a typical Bangalore wicket, Gayle adds more value to the team than Shamsi. When they play away from home, they could do the reverse. While it remains to be seen which way RCB would go, I would put my money on Gayle getting one last chance today, especially after how badly Shamsi bowled in the last match.

It beggars belief that they have kept Sarfaraz Khan on the bench after how well he played in the first phase of the tournament. Sachin Baby might have fluked himself to a couple of decent cameos, but he hardly looks like someone who belongs at this stage. 

RPSG – Fantasy Clinchers

Dhoni never changes a winning combination, so it should be the same XI again. They need a Khawaja special to even compete today though.

Match call – If Kohli opens, RCB wins. 

Kings XI Punjab vs Delhi Daredevils

Batting captaincy options – Murali Vijay, Hashim Amla, Glenn Maxwell, Quinton de Kock 

Maxwell has had his issues with leg-spin right through his career, and at times, he finds it difficult to slog pace and bounce as well. DD is a team that’s tactically good enough to know his weaknesses, so I am banking on it and leaving him out. 

Between the other 3, I would go with De Kock if Cariappa doesn’t play. If he does, I don’t see any use in wasting a sub on a single match player; a 50 from Amla would be more than enough.

Bowling captaincy options – Mohit Sharma and Chris Morris

Morris is clearly the better option, but since I don’t have him, I will have to trust Mohit Sharma here. It could easily work if KXIP bowl first.

Nature of the deck – Flat

Uncapped player order – Karun Nair (if he plays at 3), Rishabh Pant, KC Cariappa, Manan Vohra

KXIP – Fantasy Clinchers

Hashim Amla is more or less confirmed to make the playing XI; with the South African up the order, KXIP will be hopeful of some solidity. Manan Vohra will be the one to make his way out. And this also means Marcus Stoinis slots back into the middle order. 

KC Cariappa could replace Swapnil Singh, with the number of left-handers in the DD batting unit. There is an outside chance of Anureet Singh getting a look in as well considering how badly they were in need of an extra pacer last match.

DD – Fantasy Clinchers

As with DD, it's anyone's guess what their playing XI will be. I am expecting Imran Tahir to be dropped in favour of an overseas pacer considering the type of deck here. Zaheer Khan’s return, on the other hand, depends on how fit he is. 

DD will have to be mindful of not packing their side with too many left-handers, as it could bring Cariappa and Gurkeerat Mann into play and in turn will choke their batting unit down. 

Match call – DD to win 

(Since a lot of you have been asking for it, here is the SK Fantasy Guru league invite – https://fandromeda.com/ifl/champ/league/2/38531/167ccbe15cc1664c9a63c20ac4c6a55a)