IPL 2016: Fantasy Championship guide KXIP v RCB

Coming into the match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad at Vizag in match no. 37 of IPL 2016 the Mumbai Indians seemed to have enjoyed their rest period a lot, so much that they desperately wanted to get back to it by self-destructing and finishing off their match in a hurry. After being put into bat, David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan started off in typical fashion and seemed to be loving the ball coming onto the bat on a fresh Vizag wicket. Warner fell to an intelligent spell by Bhajji but Dhawan carried on. He was joined by Yuvraj Singh who with his stroke play, made us travel back in time. However, he chose to get out in the most bizarre fashion; chopping his stumps over.

The Mumbai Indians batting order had a torrid time and the seam quadruple of SRH awakened all the demons in the pitch that were asleep during the first innings. Ashish Nehra and Mustafizur Rahman chipped in with 3 wickets each and once again showed the world that T20 isn’t just a batsman’s game.

In the evening game, KKR were blown away by the Gujarat Lions and that too at the Eden Gardens. The KKR top order was wiped out by PK (Praveen Kumar) and DK (Dhawal Kulkarni) but a brilliant 5th wicket partnership between Shakib Al Hasan and Yusuf Pathan ensured that KKR reached a par score of 158.

Little did we know that the demons that were so evident during the first innings would go into deep sleep during the second. Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum were back to their merry ways and provided the Lions with a good solid start and then Dinesh Karthik completely took over the show by scoring a scintillating half century.

The ever so settled and potent KKR bowling unit looked flat today. Brad Hogg couldn’t extract much turn and Morne Morkel was taken to the cleaners by Smith and McCullum. Narine has to come in for Hogg because clearly, the 45-year-old isn’t doing much with the ball.

Let’s get to business now!

Kings XI Punjab vs Royal Challengers Bangalore:

Transfer out: DJ Bravo, Andre Russell, Robin Uthappa

Transfer in: AB de Villiers, Shane Watson, Yuzi Chahal (uncapped player)

Packed with superstars, both these teams have been humbled in the IPL and with a loss tomorrow, one of them could very well be made the butt of all jokes for one more year.

You can expect it to be a high scoring encounter with both teams possessing a lot of firepower in their batting and the Mohali track being a ‘strokeplay friendly’ one.

Now, I already have Virat Kohli and Hashim Amla in my team for this game.

With Bangalore playing twice in 3 days, it makes sense bring at least one more player from their team into my squad.

The first player that I bring in for this game is AB de Villiers. He has looked out of sorts in the last two games but with RCB playing twice in 3 days and playing both those games on batting paradises, I just have to get him in. Over two games, he can really make you regret your decision of leaving him out. Do not take that chance, not at this stage.

Shane Watson has finally found his feet in RCB colours. He has looked a threat with the ball and has played 3 wonderful, fire powered innings in the middle order. It is his all-round abilities and the fact that RCB play twice in 3 days that make me get him into my side.

Punjab play their next game on Friday and with the business end of the tournament looming large, I don’t think I want to depend too much on the Kings XI players. Glenn Maxwell could be sorted out by Yuzvendra Chahal, David Miller bats too low to be making any sort of impact and the bowlers would be up against two of the best players of this generation and hence, I leave them out.

For those who have more than 25 transfers, do have a look at Marcus Stoinis. He has been bowling his full quota of 4 overs and also opens the batting, which gives him a brilliant chance of returning at least 100 points. But just look at your overseas options before you do that as Warner and Mustafizur have a game tomorrow.

For the uncapped player, I go in with Chahal. I need to get in a bowler as my uncapped player and he seems to be the best bet amongst all available choices. I do not opt for a KXIP bowler because of RCBs strong batting line up.

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

Bowling captain: Shane Watson

KXIP v RCB match preview – IPL 9 Match 39 Preview – Struggling teams aim survival