IPL Fantasy Guru: Keep an eye on impact performers

If you have come into this straight after playing the official ICC World Cup fantasy game, the first thing you have to keep in mind is that you can’t be as liberal with transfers here as you were during the World Cup. 75 transfers in 56 games is not even 1.5 transfers per game, and that is where it gets doubly tough. Unless you play your cards right, you will be left high and dry half-way into the season.

It is never a great idea to spend your transfers in the first stage of a tournament, as you will have no idea at the start of how the teams plan to go about their season, the players’ form and the types of decks on offer. The teams’ strategies will play an important role in determining how your picks fare.

For example, you can get in Faf du Plessis, who has an excellent track record for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), but if he plays at No. 4, which he is likely to, his fantasy potential would effectively be killed. In a fast-paced format like T20 cricket, Du Plessis is not really a great option in the middle order and to make matters worse, he could be demoted even further if the Super Kings get off to a good start.

Similarly, Dinesh Karthik can be an asset if he opens the batting with Chris Gayle for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), but it is likely that he will be slotted to bat at No. 5.

Fantasy Guru's team for the season opener

Remember this – it is impossible to get in all players who will end up scoring points; what matters is that the players who we pick give us good returns. One way of making sure this happens is by getting in players who can give you more games before you transfer them out.

While the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and the Super Kings play twice in the first round (’round’ in this article refers to the first five matches), I have decided against stacking up my team with players from these two sides for one important reason – I don’t see any potential point-scorers other than the ones I have picked. There is a fine line between doing it right and overdoing it, which I will explain later in the article.

Be measured with your transfers, but at the same time, don’t miss out on impact players.

High impact performances alert

Note: Players who play two matches in the first round aren’t included in the list. ‘Impact’ here refers to single game impact.

Rohit Sharma vs KKR: Bounce, pace, spin, mystery, left-arm angle – you name it and the Kolkata Knight Riders will have it. Therefore, Mumbai will need Rohit Sharma to deliver if they are to compete against what looks like a full-strength Knight Riders unit. A T20 rockstar, the Mumbai captain is the only batsman in the star-studded team who has the potential to handle what the KKR bowlers will bring to the table in the season opener.

Yuvraj Singh vs CSK: In the last one year, whenever I have seen him, Yuvraj has been at his fluent best on good batting decks. I expect this to be a high-scoring encounter, so don’t rule the southpaw out. The Super Kings don’t have a great bowling attack either.

Glenn Maxwell vs RR: I don’t see how Rajasthan Royals are going to stop Glenn Maxwell. They neither have the pace bowlers to bounce him out nor genuine spin options. Pravin Tambe is their best bet to get rid of the Australian all-rounder, especially with his weakness against leg-spin, but Tambe is ageing and doesn’t usually spin the ball much.

SRH openers v CSK: I wouldn't be surprised to see Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner cashing in on the mediocre bowling attack of the Super Kings in what is expected to be yet another high-scoring affair. While Dhawan is in great form, Warner usually comes into his own in T20s.

Kolhi and ABD vs KKR: The Knight Riders will run through the RCB top order, thereby bringing AB de Villiers into play. Kohli, on the other hand, is back in familiar territory.

Spinners will have to toil hard: I don’t expect the decks to assist spinners this time around; the two decks that offered assistance to slower bowlers – Edens Gardens and Chepauk – have been flat for two seasons now, so unless they have changed since I last saw them, they should remain the same way. But don’t discount the spinners completely. It is not like the overseas batsmen need a minefield to be put in place, and unorthodox spinners don’t really need decks to be effective.

Match No. 2: Transfers made – 0; Transfers remaining – 75

Uncapped player pick: Jasprit Bumrah out – Shahbaz Nadeem in

Fantasy Guru's team for the CSK vs DD match

Double game focus – Kolkata Knight Riders

With Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav, Sunil Narine, Shakib Al Hasan and Kuldeep Yadav in their bowling attack, the defending champions have got most aspects covered as far as their bowling unit is concerned. Add to that an aggressive captain in Gautam Gambhir, and life won’t be easy for opposition batsmen. Accordingly, I don’t expect the likes of Chris Gayle, Rilee Rossouw, Corey Anderson, Kieron Pollard and Lendl Simmons to do much damage.

I had a look at the players’ list and the budget at which players come, and the one thing I decided right away was that Kuldeep Yadav would be my first pick. I have no idea why he is priced at only 650K. The left-arm chinaman bowler is a huge asset for the Kolkata-based franchise and should be amongst the top 15 point-scorers this season if he takes his CLT20 2014 form forward.

Robin Uthappa will be the second pick from this team. In addition to being one of the front-runners for the Orange Cap this year, he also has a secondary scoring option in wicket-keeping. There is no reason to leave him out, especially for these two matches, as neither MI nor RCB (in the absence of Mitchell Starc) have a potent new ball bowler who could exploit the right-hander's weakness against swing bowling.

It wasn’t easy leaving out Shakib and Narine, but both have their drawbacks – I am not sure how effective Narine would be after remodelling his action, and the likes of Rohit, De Villiers and Kohli play the off-spinner well even when he is at his best. Gayle, Simmons, Dinesh Karthik and Pollard, meanwhile, are more than capable of seeing off his threat too.

Shakib’s effectiveness with the ball will be hampered by the flat decks, and he could well be moved down to No. 5 in the batting order to accommodate Yusuf Pathan. If you compare their bowling in general, Narine would be reserved for the death where his wicket-taking chances are higher, while Shakib would be bowled up front.

Match No. 3: Transfers made – 0; Transfers remaining – 75

Uncapped player pick: Shahbaz Nadeem out – Karun Nair in

Fantasy Guru’s team for the KXIP vs RR match

Rohit, Kohli and De Villiers are the three standout options to score points against the Knight Riders, but De Villiers’ batting position is always a worry with the defensive mindset of the RCB management. That said, with Darren Sammy in, I don’t think they will delay the South African ODI skipper this season. He should bat at No. 4, which could spell doom for the opposition teams.

Also, RCB are playing Sunrisers after a couple of games. So even if De Villiers bats at No. 5, I would bank on the bowling attacks of KKR and SRH to run through the top order in the first 10 overs so that the South African superman gets enough balls to deliver – both for RCB and the fantasy teams.

Match No. 4: Transfers made – 1; Transfers remaining – 74

Rohit Sharma out – David Warner in

Uncapped player pick: Manan Vohra out – Yuzvendra Chahal in

Fantasy Guru's team for the CSK vs SRH match

Double game focus – Chennai Super Kings

It doesn’t get better than Suresh Raina in IPL, and there is no reason to leave him out. He can bat, he can bowl and he can field. The only threat to him in the two matches that his team will be playing this round, against Delhi Daredevils and Sunrisers Hyderabad, is the new ball pairing of Trent Boult and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Dale Steyn should bowl first change).

If the SRH duo get through the CSK openers (or at least one of them), which they are likely to, Raina will be exposed to some quality swing bowling, to which he can succumb easily. But it's all about seeing through the first four overs, and on these decks, the ball might not swing much. So the threat is too small to overlook him.

A couple of years back, I would have picked Ravichandran Ashwin with my eyes closed. But as I said, the deck is absolutely flat and despite his improvements lately and the fact that he will be bowling to a flurry of left-handers, I don’t see him being a big force. Mohit Sharma is a relatively cheaper option and bowls at the death; on most occasions, there shouldn't be a lot of difference between the points they return.

Dwayne Bravo is going the Albie Morkel way now. With three overseas batsmen in the top 4 and MS Dhoni used to promoting himself after the fall of the third wicket, the Chennai-based team would rarely require Bravo’s services with the bat. So it comes down to how effective he is with the ball on a given day, and he is no Lasith Malinga to demand a spot on that basis.

Speaking of Malinga, he doesn't look like the same force anymore. Dwayne Smith has been having a horror run recently, and I expect the likes of Mohammed Shami, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Boult, Bhuvneshwar and Steyn to sort him out pretty easily.

Brendon McCullum meanwhile is a double-edged sword, and he has always been that. If the Daredevils play two leg-spinners in Amit Mishra and Imran Tahir, it would only be a matter of time before he gets out. The Sunrisers on the other hand present a different threat, but in no way a lesser one. And that’s not to forget McCullum's Achilles heel – left-arm spin, in this case Shahbaz Nadeem.

As far as SRH and DD are concerned, Yuvraj, Warner and Dhawan are easily the three best fantasy picks for the aforementioned reasons. I expect the wickets to be split.

Match No. 5: Transfers made – 2; Transfers remaining – 72

Suresh Raina out – Virat Kohli in

Mohit Sharma out – AB de Villiers in

Uncapped player pick: Will be done based on the first four matches

Guru's team for the KKR vs RCB match

Kings XI Punjab vs Rajasthan Royals

In addition to Maxwell as cited above, Manan Vohra could help himself to a few runs against an easy-paced bowling attack. Virender Sehwag is not dependable. Wriddhiman Saha could be demoted if the Kings XI get off to a good start.

Juan Theron is skillful, but a lot of that has to do with death bowling – which makes him one dimensional. In the absence of Kane Richardson, Dhawal Kulkarni is the Royals’ only weapon with the new ball. Tim Southee, meanwhile, hasn’t looked like himself post the England demolition job in the just concluded World Cup.

The Royals batsmen, on the other hand, have one of the best bowling attacks to deal with, with the likes of Sandeep Sharma, Mitchell Johnson, Akshar Patel, Karanveer Singh, Thisara Perera and Rishi Dhawan bowling to them.

Watson at No. 4 will likely be stifled by spinners, while Steven Smith will be used as a finisher, thereby nullifying his fantasy potential. Ajinkya Rahane wouldn’t hurt you even if you don’t have him, while bossing the bowling attack in this match could be too big a task for Karun Nair and Sanju Samson.

James Faulkner is likely to bat at No. 7, which is too low for him to make an impact with the bat, while Stuart Binny is not a reliable option. Also, Faulkner is no more the force he was with the new ball a couple of years back.