IPL 2016: Fantasy Championship guide GL v RCB

Sanju Samson and JP Duminy’s masterful batting, Rohit Sharma’s yet another half century, Pollard’s weakness against quality spin bowling, Mustafizur Rahman’s T20 spell of the year (at least) and just another day out in the life of the destructive David Warner was the order of the day on Saturday.

Delhi Daredevils continued their rich vein of form by revealing the weaknesses in the Mumbai Indians middle order and Sunrisers Hyderabad relied on their bowling expertise to restrict the Kings XI Punjab to a modest total and then just unleashed Warner on their bowling attack.

Let’s get to business now!

Gujarat Lions vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

Transfer out: David Warner/ Manan Vohra

Transfer in: Brendon McCullum/ Sarfaraz Khan

Two top heavy batting units take on each other at Rajkot and though Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers are a cut above the rest, it just feels that the side which turns up with a better bowling unit today could clinch it. Brendon McCullum has looked out of sorts and Aaron Finch’s weakness against swing bowling (especially at the start of the innings) was perfectly exposed by Bhuvi last time round. But with no such threats in the RCB attack, both these openers would fancy their chances today.

The question for RCB is not whether their bowling is good enough, but do they have enough firepower in their middle order if Virat and ABD fail? Although they wouldn’t want to know the answer to that question any time soon, I am pretty sure somewhere down the line they will be forced to look for answers.

Now, I already have Virat Kohli, ABD, Shane Watson and Suresh Raina in my team for this game.

The only player that I bring in for this game is Brendon McCullum. He has been due a long time and though he hasn’t been striking the ball very well, an average RCB attack maybe just the right thing for him at this stage.

I leave out Aaron Finch because of his no-show last time round and because he struggles against quality swing bowling. Also, McCullum has a better ‘point providing’ potential and the law of averages has to catch up with Finch.

DJ Bravo doesn’t make the cut because he will be up against the finest batsmen of this generation and I don’t expect him to bamboozle them with his slower ones.

For the uncapped player, I could bring in Sarfaraz Khan. He has looked in good touch and is very effective in the fag end of the innings. Also, with Travis Head’s exclusion, Sarfaraz will get to bat at number 5 and thus has the best ‘point providing’ potential amongst all the uncapped batsmen for this game

I can’t get a bowler as my uncapped player because of my team combination.

Batting captain: AB de Villiers (if RCB bat first)/ Virat Kohli (if RCB bat second)

Bowling captain: Shane Watson

How is the match expected to play? – IPL 9, Match 19 Preview: Desperate RCB face the Lions in their den