IPL 2018 Fantasy Guru: What your team should look like for RR vs DD

Subs used - 2; Subs remaining – 69

Chris Lynn out – Colin Munro in

Kuldeep Yadav out – Chris Morris in

(uncapped) Nitish Rana out – Rahul Tripathi in

Uncapped preference order: Rahul Tripathi, Shreyas Gopal, Krishnappa Gowtham

Captain – Ben Stokes

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Guru's season fantasy team ahead of CSK vs KKR: E Lewis, C Munro, A Rahane, S Dhawan, L Rahul, R Tripathi, C Morris, K Gowtham, B Stokes (c), M Markande, B Kumar

Rajasthan Royals

Despite the heavy defeat suffered at the hands of Sunrisers Hyderabad in their season opener, I don’t see Rajasthan Royals making any changes to their team today. The only significant improvement on what they have in their XI is Jofra Archer, who isn’t available for selection yet.

So with that being the case, the two other players worth considering in addition to those I already have on my team – Ajinkya Rahane and Ben Stokes – are D’Arcy Short and Sanju Samson.

Short’s playing style is simple – understandably natural vs pace, he has the PP shots, is particularly severe on mediocre pace bowling and goes after spinners only if necessary, merely rotating the strike and attacking the bad balls in other times. If you haven’t picked Rahane yet and your future planning involves carrying him for a longer period time, you can consider bringing him in.

Samson showed signs of being in as good a form as he has ever been in in the first match, and his returns will largely depend on how long the opening partnership lasts. He might come into my plans later, but with him not keeping wickets, I am not keen on him at the moment.

Delhi Daredevils

It is quite remarkable how Gautam Gambhir defies his age and continues to step up with the bat in the IPL season after season. Different colors, different ground, different dynamics, even older, and yet he looked in absolutely no trouble whatsoever in the match against Kings XI Punjab.

He is, however, fighting for the same accumulator spot in my team as Rahane, so until Rahane goes out, which will be after this match, I can’t get him in. There is also a three-way fight between Colin Munro, Rishabh Pant and Glenn Maxwell for one of two available spaces in my team now, making it even more difficult.

Of the three, Pant’s case is simple – unless you see signs of him opening or at least in the top 3, there is no point getting him in. As far as Munro and Maxwell are concerned, this Royals attack is tailor-made for both of them to go crazy. The percentage game suggests that Munro, batting higher up the order, is the best bet here and so I have decided to get him in.

Leaving out Chris Morris when he is the first-choice death bowler of the Daredevils isn't something I would recommend, as you will have to hope for a lot of things to go your way if you are gambling against having him in your fantasy team. That is a nervous three hours you can do without.