Transfers made – 5; Transfers remaining – 42
Rohit Sharma out – Gautam Gambhir in
Amit Mishra out – Virat Kohli in
Jasprit Bumrah out – Chris Gayle in
Dwayne Smith out – Ab de Villiers in
Dwayne Bravo out – Andre Russell in
(uncapped) Krunal Pandya out – SK Yadav in
Batting/ Full match captain – Virat Kohli
Bowling captain – Andre Russell
Batting captaincy options – Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa and Chris Gayle
With Gayle likely to come back into the team, it can have an effect on De Villiers’ fantasy potential today. At Bangalore, the only thing that troubles him is swing, and KKR don’t have the bowlers to exploit that weakness. If the opening duo sees off the first 10, there is not much left for the rest of the batting unit to do.
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The choice for me is now between the remaining four. Kolkata might have a better bowling attack than RCB, but neither Gambhir nor Uthappa is known for making it really big – which rules both of them out.
For all I know, Gayle could go berserk today. But if he fails, it brings both Kohli and De Villiers into the equation, and with a majority of them going for one of these two as their captain, you could lose a lot of ground backing Gayle. Also, Kohli is certain to give you at least half of what Gayle can even in the worst case scenario, which makes it a risk not worth taking. I am siding with Kohli here.
Bowling captaincy options – Shane Watson, Umesh Yadav and Andre Russell
Watson is the best bet here considering he is bowling to a weaker batting line-up.
Nature of the deck – Flat
Uncapped picks: SK Yadav and Y Chahal/I Abdulla
RCB – Fantasy clinchers
There is a possibility of both Chris Gayle and Chris Jordan coming in today, in place of Kane Richardson and Tabraiz Shamsi. While Richardson is an obvious exclusion, Shamsi, despite his impressive performances so far, can also be dropped keeping in mind the nature of the deck and the Knight Riders’ potential against spinners.
Gayle coming in could see KL Rahul getting demoted to No.4 or No.5. Sarfaraz Khan should most likely replace Parvez Rasool, while Harshal Patel could make his way out for Sreenath Aravind as well.
With a heavyweight top 3, I don’t expect much of a role for Watson today with the bat. He is a safe bet for a couple of wickets, but to get anything more than that, he needs a lot of luck to go by his way, especially at Chinnaswamy.
Likely playing XI: Gayle, Kohli, AB, Watson, Rahul, Sarfaraz, Baby/Jadhav, Jordan, Aaron, Aravind, Chahal
KKR – Fantasy clinchers
Manish Pandey’s absence has exposed Kolkata’s weaknesses, which were being masked by the extraordinary form of the top 3. The Knight Riders are likely to react with a number of changes again, especially with their last match ending in a loss.
Colin Munro and Morne Morkel could make their way back at the expense of Jason Holder and Brad Hogg. Rajagopal Sathish has already played way too many matches than he should, but the problem for KKR is that their lack of activity in their last two auctions means they don’t have many options in their squad. Their best bet is to replace him with a specialist bowler in Jaidev Unadkat.
Even if KKR play Morne Morkel today, Russell will be required to complete his full quota as this is not the deck where they can go around bowling their spinners. With a likely promotion on cqrds when KKR bat, the Caribbean all-rounder is a good shot for 100 points.
Notable exclusion
Shane Watson – Between Russell and Watson, that Russell gives me two matches swung it in his favour. Not just that, bringing in Watson meant I had to sacrifice Rahane, which I don't think is worth it.
Match call: If Gayle and Jordan are picked, whatever KKR do, they are going down.
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