A hat trick hero, a million dollar performance, a West Indian super show and a typical Delhi debacle marked the double header yesterday.
Ben Stokes and MS Dhoni set it all up for the RPS bowlers, who had the required ammunition to take full toll of the two paced pitch in Hyderabad. The fortress was breached and JayDdev Unadkat played a pivotal role in it, dishing out a hattrick(a maiden over too) while defending 13 of the last over.
The Sunrisers would have fancied themselves to chase down 148, but the new Hyderabad wicket played enough tricks to help RPS breach SRH’s fortress.
The evening game was dominated by the West Indian duo of Pollard and Simmons, who cranked up the scoring with their free flowing batting, completely blowing away the potent Delhi bowling unit. A score of 200 plus was put up on the board and the Delhi crowd was expectant, hoping for a repeat of the performance agains the Gujarat Lions. But it was a different bowling line up that this young Indian Delhi lineup was up against, a bowling unit that was far more diverse, far more skilled and far more controlled.
Pant and co. would have backed themselves to chase down a score of 200+ once again, but it all came crashing down, as none of the batsmen could find a way of getting the Mumbai bowlers away, and ended up giving their wickets away while chasing that mammoth, mammoth total.
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Mumbai are the first team to have qualified for the playoffs and Delhi now have to win all their remaining games to have any chance of going one step further. RPS too have solidified their position at the top and SRH suddenly have been forced to do some soul searching if they want to have any chance of making it to the last four.
Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders
The Chinnaswamy track should suit the KKR side more than RCB, as Kuldeep, Narine and PC could cause the already dented RCB a lot of damage tomorrow.
When self confidence takes a hit, even the best fall from the pinnacle, and RCB are in the midst of that ‘wounded self confidence’ storm at the moment.
KKR too are in free fall. Their Narine experiment has ceased to function in the past few games, and the middle order lacks a little bit of spine. If it wasn’t for their bowling, KKR would have succumbed to some very embarrassing losses in the last few games.
Two teams in free fall would love to combat the gravitational force tomorrow, but where do they get that inspiration from?
Let’s get to business now!
IPL Fantasy Tips on the next page:
IPL Fantasy League(Fantasy Tips for Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders)
Transfer out: Rishabh Pant, Amit Mishra
Transfer in: Robin Uthappa, Aniket Chaudhary
Now, I already have Virat Kohli, ABD and Yuzi Chahal in my team for this game.
With all bases covered from the RCB side, I don’t think I’ll be bringing in any further players from their side into my team.
Robin Uthappa has been in red hot form this season. He was left out in the last game, due to a slight niggle, but he should be back for tomorrow’s game for sure. The Chinnaswamy track hasn’t been batting friendly this season, but with KKR playing twice in 4 games, I’ll be getting in Uthappa for sure.
I am not bringing in any other player for this game keeping the paucity in transfers in mind. NCN suffered a blow to the head in the last game, and though he was the chief architect of RCB’s downfall in the last game, he could be left out just in case. Sunil Narine hasn’t been really effective with either bat or ball and I opt for Uthappa over Gambhir becasue of Uthappa’s wicketkeeping abilities.
For the uncapped player, I’ll be getting in Aniket Chaudhary.
Captain: Virat Kohli(if RCB bat second)/ABD(if RCB bat first)
Fandromeda Fantasy Tips on the next page:
Fandromeda(Fantasy Tips for Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders)
Transfer out: Sanju Samson, Rishabh Pant, Amit Mishra
Transfer in: Robin Uthappa, Virat Kohli, Kuldeep Yadav
Now, I already have ABD and Yuzi Chahal in my team for this game!
Virat Kohli and Robin Uthappa are the only two players who I’ll be bringing in for this game. While Uthappa is probably having his best IPL season, Kohli has struggled to find form, often found hitting his way out. Sunil Gavaskar has come out and asked Kohli to introspect and stop playing those rash heaves. With his team down in the dumps, you can expect an innings of immense character from the captain today.
Uthappa could take this mediocre RCB bowling line up for a toss today, and the fact that he plays leg spinners really well neutralises the major threat that the RCB bowling line up possesses. Get him in!
If you do a lot of transfers, you could get in Kuldeep Yadav in for Amit Mishra, as Mishra wouldn’t be featuring for sometime and seeing his reluctance to toss the ball up to quality batsmen, I don’t think I am ever going to draft him into my side.
Batting Star: Virat Kohli(if RCB bat second)/ ABD(if RCB bat first)
Bowling Star: Yuzi Chahal(if RCB bowl first)/ Kuldeep Yadav(if KKR bowl first)
Happy team picking 🙂
