IPL 2016: Fantasy Championship guide KXIP v KKR

Despite almost always having the same core group of players, Mumbai Indians just never seem to figure out their ideal team combination and batting order. There just never seems to be an assurance about them. Constant tinkering with the batting order and baffling team selections has always seen them fall way behind from the frontrunners in the table. However, for the last two seasons, they haven been successful in shrugging off their initial naivety in order to make a late charge towards the playoff spots. But lightning certainly doesn’t strike thrice and hence they need to get their house in order, and quickly.

Sunrisers too have their own problems. Their overdependence on David Warner is no secret and they need him to fire if they want to be anywhere near the top 4. Thankfully for SRH, he did come good yesterday and steered them home. Warner’s performances often overshadows the glaring problems in the SRH top order and while they would love for him to continue with his good form; Shikhar Dhawan, Moises Henriques, and Eoin Morgan need to contribute substantially.

Let’s get to business then!

Kings XI Punjab vs Kolkata Knight Riders:

Transfer out: Jos Buttler, Harbhajan Singh, Suresh Raina, Krunal Pandya

Transfer in: Andre Russell, Robin Uthappa, Umesh Yadav, Pradip Sahu (uncapped)

I only have Sandeep Sharma in my team for this game!

Both these teams are coming off good victories and while KKR look far more settled than Kings XI Punjab; KXIP do possess the firepower to upset any team on their day.

The Mohali track has generally been a good batting wicket but this year we have seen that teams have found it a little difficult to score runs in the death overs. It could probably be just a one off event but I would still like to go with only top order batsmen for this game (except if you are Andre Russell)

With Martin Guptill coming into the Mumbai team and Ambati Rayudu playing a brilliant innings at number three, I am pretty sure that the highest position at which Buttler would bat is number 5 and hence I do not see much of a point in keeping him in my side (especially if Mumbai bat second). Thus, I transfer him out despite MI playing their next game tomorrow.

I transfer in Andre Russell for Jos Buttler. KKR have realized that Rusell is their go-to hitter and thus he often gets promoted to number 4. His death bowling skills also come in handy and I believe he is a must have for this game.

Transferring out Jos Buttler would mean that you wouldn’t be having a wicketkeeper in your side and that is why you go for Robin Uthappa. Uthappa has looked in great touch in this edition of the IPL as well and though he hasn’t really kicked on to score as much as Gambhir has, his wicket-keeping skills give you an extra scoring option (which is always safer).

If you don’t want to transfer out Buttler because he plays the next game, you could transfer out Warner and then maybe get Manish Pandey/ Gautam Gambhir in. But if you go ahead with this, you would be wasting two transfers, as you’ll anyways have to get Warner in for the game on Thursday.

The RCB batsmen at the Wankhede could also pick off Harbhajan Singh and thus I feel that transferring him out would be the best option. I don’t see him giving me too many points. I get in Umesh Yadav instead of him. He was brilliant in the last game against Sunrisers and was also used at the death by Gautam Gambhir, which further escalates his ‘point providing’ potential.

Manan Vohra has been in good form but my team combination does not allow me to bring him into my side as an uncapped player for this game as I will only have 5 bowlers in my team then. Thus, I leave him out and bring in Pradip Sahu or KC Cariappa (depending on who plays).

Batting Captain: Robin Uthappa (if KKR bat second)/Andre Russell (if KKR bat first)

Bowling captain: Umesh Yadav (if KKR bowl first)/Sandeep Sharma (if KXIP bowl first)

Also, as far as the official league goes, I already have Gautam Gambhir, Manish Pandey, Sandeep Sharma and Umesh Yadav in my team for this game. The only transfer that I’ll be making for this game is bringing in Russell instead of Warner.

Captain for the official league: Andre Russell (Safest choice)

Happy team picking!