IPL 2016: Fantasy Championship guide DD v RPS

When the Knights are in familiar territory, seldom do they lose the plot, and even if they sometimes do, they find a few heroes to carry them towards the finish line.

Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir got the Kolkata Knight Riders off to a typical KKR start. Gambhir scored a century and Uthappa went on to score a brilliant 70 a bunch of clean strikes from Andre Russell and Yusuf Pathan meant that KKR put up a good total on a turning Eden Gardens track.

Russell got the ball rolling for the Knights in the second innings when he struck twice in 2 overs to get rid of Manan Vohra and Marcus Stoinis. And with Shakib Al Hasan, Piyush Chawla, and Brad Hogg, KKR did have the necessary artillery to suffocate the out of form KXIP middle order. But Glenn Maxwell had plans of taking us back to 2014 (and no there were no extra charges involved). Clean striking, brilliant execution and the killer instinct that he has been missing in the IPL since 2014 were all on display today. But still KXIP fell short. Russell’s excellent last over ensured that KKR climbed to the top of the IPL table and the Kings XI plummeted to the bottom.

Let’s get to business now!

Delhi Daredevils vs Rising Pune Supergiants

Transfer out: Andre Russell, Manan Vohra

Transfer in: Usman Khawaja, Rajat Bhatia (uncapped player)

While Delhi is basking in the acumen of Rahul Dravid and co and their capability of picking different combination of overseas players for different tracks, RPS are struggling to get their 4 overseas players to take the field. Injuries have marred all their initial plans but they would be hoping that the new recruits, Usman Khawaja, and George Bailey, can deliver what they originally expected from KP and Faf.

Now, I already have Ajinkya Rahane, Quinton de Kock and Amit Mishra in my team for this game.

Khwaja had a brilliant BBL and that was what triggered his selection in the Australian team for the wWrld T20. In the World T20 too performed exceedingly well at the top of the order and adjusted beautifully to the Indian conditions. Also, with RPS playing twice in 3 days, I expect him to return at least 150 points before being transferred out.

Supergiants are not a settled side and that is what convinces me that I cannot trust on any of the other payers in their middle order or their bowling department. Only if their openers get them off to a great start can they even think of challenging a well settled Delhi unit.

For the uncapped player, I get in Rajat Bhatia as he is the best bowling option that I can find in both these sides. Murugan Ashwin has been horrendous in the last two games. His length has been way too short and if he keeps bowling that way he could be dropped from not only my side but Dhoni’s as well.

Batting captain: Quinton de Kock (if Delhi bat second)/Usman Khawaja (if Pune bat second)

Bowling captain: Amit Mishra (if Delhi bowl first)/Rajat Bhatia (if Pune bowl first)

Happy team picking!

Points table positions after KKR v KXIP match – IPL 9: Points table, Purple Cap, Orange Cap and fixtures after the KKR v KXIP Match 32

Check out the preview of the match – IPL 9, Match 33 Preview: Confident Daredevils take on struggling Supergiants at Kotla