IPL 2016: Fantasy Championship guide RPS v RCB

The Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers perfectly revealed the frailties in the Gujarat Lions middle order. Yes, they have Aaron Finch, yes they have Brendon McCullum, yes they have Suresh Raina, but who next?

Dinesh Karthik at 4 is still decent but Dwayne Bravo at 5 and Ravindra Jaddu at 6 just doesn’t emanate confidence and that is why the top 3 need to have a good tournament if GL want to go through to the playoffs.

Shikhar Dhawan’s return to form is the best possible thing that could have happened to the Sunrisers and with Yuvraj Singh and Kane Williamson nearing full fitness, it seems SRH will be a force to reckon with in the coming weeks.

Let’s get to business now!

Rising Pune Supergiants vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

They are hurt, they are weary but with the star power on display both these teams are capable of producing a T20 thriller. Their first job? Somehow getting their team combination right.

I already have Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Shane Watson in my team for this game. I don’t think any other RCB player has a good enough ‘point providing’ potential and hence, I won’t be discussing much about them.

Coming to the Supergiants; Ajinya Rahane, Faf du Plessis, and Kevin Pietersen are the three most influential players and with a below par RCB bowling lineup, all three of them will fancy their chances of scoring at least a half-century.

The first player I get in is KP. I have already spoken about his T20 record, his recent Big Bash exploits and his ability to give bucketloads of points and against a weak RCB attack; he should be amongst the runs.

I have ignored Faf in the past few games but his performance in the first 2 games and RCB’s bowling attack tempt me to bring him in.

I omit Rahane because I don’t want to be making three transfers for a one-off game and because Faf and KP have a bigger impact rating than him.

For the uncapped player pick, I go with Murugan Ashwin. He has been amongst the wickets and could exploit ABD’s weakness against spin.

Batting captain: AB de Villiers (if RCB bat first)/ Kevin Pietersen (if RPSG bat first)

Bowling captain: Shane Watson

I make the same changes in the official league as well. So, transfer out Warner and Mustafizur and get in Faf and KP.

Captain in the official league: Kevin Pietersen (if RPSG bat first)/ ABD (if RCB bat first)

Happy team picking!