IPL 2018 Fantasy Guru: What your team should look like for CSK vs KXIP

Subs used – 2; Subs remaining – 0

Shikhar Dhawan out – KL Rahul in

Kane Williamson out – Chris Gayle in

(Uncapped) Jasprit Bumrah out – Deepak Chahar in

Captain – KL Rahul

Captaincy preference order: KL Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, Shane Watson, Chris Gayle

Differential: Aaron Finch, MS Dhoni

Multipliers remaining: 0

Multiplier potential: Yes

Guru’s team ahead of CSK vs KXIP: KL Rahul, A Rayudu, C Gayle, S Watson, D Chahar, R Pant, N Rana, M Markande, S Yadav, K Gowtham, S Kaul

Pune has been one of the best batting decks in the IPL so far, and I don’t see it being any different this match. Therefore, with Ambati Rayudu and Shane Watson already in, I also rope KL Rahul and Chris Gayle into my team.

While Gayle might not have contributed much in the last few matches, going into this encounter without him would be too much of a risk; barring Lungi Ngidi and Deepak Chahar’s new ball spell, there aren’t any real threats to him in the Chennai Super Kings bowling line-up. It could worsen if Chahar isn’t able to find any swing.

Aaron Finch, now batting at No.3, can turn out to be a great differential, but the only problem with that is that there is a decent chance of the first wicket partnership batting out the majority of overs.

Suresh Raina’s season has been a lot like Rohit Sharma’s season wherein he has failed even in the matches he should have gone berserk, so it doesn’t make much sense risking him now. Andrew Tye is obviously the only other player worth considering in this fixture, and it is a shootout between him and Gayle for me.

Tye’s crazy wicket-taking streak has a lot of do with some ordinary batting, and with MS Dhoni around in the death, that is something unlikely to happen with the Super Kings. He could still get you a couple of wickets, though.