A day full of surprises, a day when the Chinnaswamy spun, a day when two bowlers helped themselves to hattricks in a format that is said to be dominated by batsmen, a day when Kohli made a grand comeback, a day when when Pollard showed that he indeed has a ‘cricketing brain’, a day when Gujarat Lions finally came good; a day that would go down for a whole new number of ‘firsts’.
Virat Kohli’s return was the talk of the day, and he didn’t disappoint one bit, as he scored a delightful half century but was just not supported well enough by any of the RCB batsman on that slow, turning and uncharacteristic Chinnaswamy track.
With a meek total to chase, the ball was in Mumbai’s court, but Badree quickly turned the tables, got himself a hat trick and completely pegged back the Mumbai Indians. But then Krunal Pandya and Pollard came togehter to string together one of the grittiest partnerships the competition has ever seen. RCB would be livid that they let go off that game, but at least they have their full strength squad in place now. Just a matter of time that they come good.
Also Read: Twitter goes bonkers as the IPL witnesses two hattricks on the same day
The Gujarat Lions pulled all the right strings today. They gave up on their ‘batting heavy’ approach and went in with Andrew Tye, who is not a big name in World Cricket but is a very, very effective T20 bowler, and I am glad they went with him instead of Faulkner, whose skills are on the decline. Tye, with his hat trick and 5 wickets set the tone for the Lions, who were desperately looking for some inspiration.
And when everything was going well, even Dwayne Smith and BMac came good for the Lions, just like in their CSK days.
RPS need to go back to the drawing board and figure things out as nothing seems to be working for them. MS Dhoni’s form is a huge worry, Rahane hasn’t really got going and the bowlers keep leaking runs all through. They need to figure things out and quickly, or else the playoffs could mean a distant dream.
Let’s get to business now!
IPL Fantasy League
Transfer out: Ben Stokes, Imran Tahir, Ishan Kishan
Transfer in: David Warner, Rashid Khan, Deepak Hooda
Now, I already have Manish Pandey, Trent Boult, Kuldeep Yadav and Bhuvi in my team for this game!
The Eden Gardens track has transformed into a batting paradise and thus you can expect another high scoring encounter tomorrow.
The first player that I bring in David Warner. He has been in sublime touch this IPL, carrying on from his splendid season last time round. And with the ball coming onto the bat wonderfully, I expect him to be amongst the runs today as well.
The other players in the consideration set for this game are Rashid Khan, Moises Henriques, Umesh Yadav, Gautam Gambhir, Mustafizur Rehman.
There has been no confirmation about Henriques’ situation as of now, and with Mustafizur’s return, it looks like Henriques might just have to sit out this one. The Fizz didn’t perform really well in the last game but Warner would want to give him a couple of games to settle in after returning from a long injury lay off. I leave out both of them, as I wouldn’t want to waste a transfer on a bowler who is still finding his feet in the tournament.
Gautam Gambhir was in scintillating touch in the last game, but he’ll have to counter the initial swing from Bhuvi and Nehra, and it is too much of a risk to get him in just for a game, as KKR don’t play their next game for quite some time(3 games in between).
Rashid Khan is the second player that I’ll be getting in. The Afghan man has been bamboozling the batsmen, left, right and centre. His quick arm action and the fact that most of these players haven’t really seen much of him has worked in his favour. None of the players seem to pick his googly, and thus more often than not end up playing the wrong line. Get him in!
Kuldeep Yadav might again miss out tonight and thus you could contemplate getting in Umesh Yadav instead. The only apprehension that I have with Yadav is that he’ll be operating in the middle overs, with Boult and Woakes taking charge at the death. This robs me off those cheap wickets that he could feast on, nonetheless his form off late warrants him a place in your side, but go for him only if KKR bowls first and if you have more than 55 transfers in your kitty.
For the uncapped player I get in Deepak Hooda. With Henriques being most likely to sit out, Hooda will come in at number 3 and could also be used to counter Gambhir up top. Surya is the other option, but he does not even come close to the amount of time(and chances) that Hooda will have to give me a return of at least 50 points
Captain: Bhuvaneshwar Kumar(if SRH bowl first)/Trent Boult(if KKR bowl first)
Fandromeda tips on the next page:
Fandromeda
Transfer out: Ben Stokes, Imran Tahir, Yuzi Chahal
Transfer in: David Warner, Rashid Khan, Bhuvi
Now, I already have Chris Woakes and Manish Pandey in my side for this game.
I would be bringing in David Warner and Rashid Khan all the same(reasons for which are mentioned in the IPL Fantasy League section).
I’ll be bringing in Bhuvi as well. He swings the ball upfront and bowls those perfect yorkers during the death overs. With he getting to bowl at least 2 overs at the death, I expect him to finish every game with at least 2 wickets. Get him in!
Batting Star: Manish Pandey/David Warner(whoever bats second)
Bowling Star: Bhuvi/Chris Woakes(whoever bowl first)
