IPL Fantasy Guru: Phase in the slow-kills

Imran Tahir is always a safe bet when it comes to Fantasy IPL

The slow-kill effect

We now have a fair idea of what the playing elevens and strategies of the eight teams are, and it is at this stage you should make sure you get in players who are capable of bringing consistent returns to your team. They are not the McCullums or the Pollards who make you regret after leaving them out, but ignoring them will slowly but surely kill your fantasy teams and ultimately prove to be the difference between your team and the winner’s team.

Sometimes those signs can be deceiving, so it’s important you pick the right players in. I don’t believe in letting these players occupy my overseas slots for a couple of reasons:

• There are a lot of better options when it comes to overseas players;
• And it leads to too much chopping and changing, which results in wastage of subs.

Don’t bring them in all at one time, rather phase them in. I have already got in Ajinkya Rahane, who has been absolutely brilliant so far. But if you bring him in now, you will probably see him getting out to Sandeep Sharma cheaply in the next encounter. So wait till the Royals’ next match, which is against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

I would put Imran Tahir in that category too. While he is an overseas player, what I like the most about him is the way he is being used. He is such a secure option that when I am in doubt, I can play safe and captain him in all the Delhi Daredevils matches. You may not miss him today, but he will definitely be handful against the Mumbai Indians.

Sandeep Sharma, Pravin Tambe, Yuzvendra Chahal are some excellent options too, but since they are uncapped players and can be drafted in without wasting any transfers, I haven’t considered them here.

So, who do I think are the other best slow-kills? Here is my list:

Player	Team	Points	Budget	Guru’s nod
Dwayne Bravo	Chennai Super Kings	393	950,000	No
Ashish Nehra	Chennai Super Kings	341	850,000	No
Harbhajan Singh	Mumbai Indians	339	950,000	Yes
Andre Russell	Kolkata Knight Riders	337	900,000	No
Morne Morkel	Kolkata Knight Riders	280	900,000	No
Ravi Bopara	Sunrisers Hyderbad	319	850,000	No*

Dwayne Bravo: Till IPL 2013, Bravo was a no-brainer. But ever since Chennai Super Kings stacked their batting order with 3 overseas batsmen in the top 4, his potential started decreasing. It took people a season to realise that, but once they did, his ownership percentage reduced drastically. If not for that half-century against Rajasthan Royals yesterday, he would have been nowhere among the top point-scorers list. But that was brought about by the failure of the CSK top 4, which doesn't happen often.

So, don’t go by that and bring him in. He is a decent death bowler, not a great one. Unless he gets a chance to bat – which is very rare in the current CSK set-up – he wouldn’t help you, more so when he comes at the cost of an overseas slot.

Ashish Nehra: Nehra has picked up 3 wickets in two matches and none in the remaining two. That sums his case up perfectly. Batsmen need to be extremely silly to gift him wickets and he is not used at the death too. Deceiving signal this.

Harbhajan Singh: I am getting him in. He has been consistently schooling the big-hitters. Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Smith, Chris Gayle – you name it, Harbhajan has had them all.

Andre Russell: An asset for KKR, but not for fantasy teams. Bats too low. Occupies an overseas slot. Isn't really an option with the ball. That knock against Kings XI Punjab isn’t something you should go by.

Morne Morkel: There is nothing outstanding about him. 2 wickets per match is not what you expect from an overseas player.

Ravi Bopara: Sunrisers’ batting order isn’t settled yet. If he bats in the top 4 consistently, he is worth considering. Not for now.

Delhi Daredevils vs Kolkata Knight Riders

Transfers made – 1; Transfers remaining – 57

Rohit Sharma out – Robin Uthappa in

Unmukt Chand out – SK Yadav in

Captaincy pick – Imran Tahir/SK Yadav

DD vs KKR

I had taken the decision to pick Yuvraj Singh ahead of JP Duminy and I will have to stick with it. Kolkata Knight Riders have one of the best bowling attacks in the IPL, and Duminy batting at No.3 exposes him to every trick KKR will have up their sleeve. I don’t expect Mayank Agarwal and Shreyas Iyer – the openers – to stick around for long, which can only make things tougher for the Daredevils captain.

It doesn’t make much sense to bring him in based on the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad – a match where he returned more points with the ball than the bat, which, to me, sums up how weird a day that was.

Yes, I was aware of the fact that the Sunrisers had too many left-handers, but you don’t expect all of them to exactly to gift their wickets to Duminy. The Knight Riders batting unit may not be the best one around, but don’t expect them to give any wickets to Duminy. If I get him in now, I will have to throw him out immediately. And that is not worth it.

Angelo Mathews will come into play, but against the pace and bounce of Morne Morkel and Umesh Yadav, he won’t find it easy.

As I had predicted in my last article, Andre Russell had a field day slogging a weak Kings XI Punjab death bowling unit. It was also made possible by Sandeep Sharma running through the top order. I don’t see it happening today.

There aren’t any outstanding options when it comes to the Knight Riders, but they play twice in a span of 3 matches and I need a relatively cheaper option to replace Rohit Sharma – as it helps me in getting my desired uncapped players.

It was again a choice between Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir. Uthappa gets my nod, as him being a wicket-keeper gives you guaranteed points. Suryakumar Yadav will have a good number of overs to bat, and he would be my uncapped player pick for this match. Manish Pandey has looked promising, but he is too expensive for an uncapped player and is often prone to a brain freeze.

Rajasthan Royals vs Kings XI Punjab

Transfers made – 0; Transfers remaining – 57

SK Yadav out – Sandeep Sharma in

Captaincy pick – Steven Smith/Sandeep Sharma

RR vs KXIP

Shane Watson looked as good as he has ever been in his comeback match, but to escape the Kings XI’s new ball bowlers, you need more than that. The Royals will need the quality of Steve Smith in this match to set things up for Deepak Hooda and James Faulkner.

Kings XI’s batting order changes every match, so I wouldn’t advise getting any of their batsmen in. Murali Vijay could be dropped while Virender Sehwag is likely to be sorted out by Chris Morris. If one of Ajinkya Rahane and Steven Smith get out early, expect Sandeep Sharma to be amongst the wickets again.

Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Kolkata Knight Riders

Transfers made – 2; Transfers remaining – 55

Steven Smith out – David Warner in

Yuvraj Singh out - Harbhajan Singh in (budget compensation and slow-kill phase in)

Sandeep Sharma out – SK Yadav in

Captaincy pick – David Warner/SK Yadav

SRH vs KKR

David Warner has looked in great touch, but his weakness against spinners has stopped him from making it big so far. With Sunil Narine not at his best and Piyush Chawla being a leg-spinner, this could very well be his match. He would enjoy the pace and bounce from Morkel and Umesh in the powerplay, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he helps himself to a half-century even before Chawla gets introduced, so that makes him a must-have.

Ravi Bopara needs to bat in the top 4 to be considered, while I have had enough of Shikhar Dhawan.

If Robin Uthappa manages to escape the new ball, he could cash in big time later. But he will have his task cut out against the likes of Praveen Kumar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Dale Steyn.

Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Chennai Super Kings

Transfers made – 2; Transfers remaining – 53

Robin Uthappa out – Suresh Raina in

David Warner out – Brendon McCullum in

Uncapped player pick - Based on previous and upcoming matches

Captaincy pick – AB de Villiers/Chris Gayle

Not complete – Budget +50K extra, so make the uncapped sub accordingly

Finally, I open up on the elephant in the room: Chris Gayle and the RCB overload. Yes, I had Gayle as my captain in the match against Mumbai Indians and I also brought in Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers – which in hindsight looks like a terrible move. But I don’t regret it. It could still work out, with the Kohli-led team facing Chennai Super Kings at home next.

Gayle in Bangalore is always a tempting option, and he was and still is in decent form too. And it was only after my last article that McCullum and Smith tore into the Mumbai bowling attack. So, what changed?

Was the pitch as expected? Yes. Was Mumbai’s bowling performance as bad? Yes.

Now this may raise a few eyebrows when I say their bowling performance was as bad. Sample this – despite Gayle and Kohli making no contribution whatsoever, Royal Challengers Bangalore fell only 18 short of the target. By his standards, you can refer to de Villiers’ blitz as just a cameo.

It was that one ploy – bowling slower balls to Gayle till Harbhajan Singh came into the attack, and it worked out wonders. Full marks to MI, but even if Chennai Super Kings try it, I fail to see how it can be so effective yet again. I brought in Gayle not just for the Mumbai Indians match, but for this match too. The Super Kings don’t have a great bowling attack and expect Gayle to be doubly motivated to slog them out of the park after his no-show yesterday.

Contrary to popular belief, Gayle usually handles off-spinners reasonably well on flat decks. It is on surfaces that assist spin that he looks out of sorts, so don’t bother too much about Ravichandran Ashwin. Dinesh Karthik played shots of a man in form, but with three RCB players already in, I can’t fit him into my team.

Mitchell Starc will be available for this match, and that’s a red alert to the Chennai top 3. Brendon McCullum is the best equipped to handle Starc, but the way he is playing lately makes him extremely unpredictable. Smith will be troubled by the pace and swing that Starc will be able to extract. If Varun Aaron gets his radar right, he is a threat to Smith too.

If Raina escapes Starc, the Royal Challengers Bangalore are in for a serious hammering. I understand Raina hasn’t done well so far, but when Unmukt Chand scores a half-century with ease, it is not wise to leave Raina out on that ground.