Fantasy: KKR spinners to wreak havoc again?

A week ago, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) players provided their fans with a night to remember and on Friday (April 14), they’ll be hoping to do it again as Nitish Rana’s side will take on Aiden Markram’s Sunrisers Hyderabad who, over the weekend, finally got off the mark by beating Punjab Kings.

It is a clash of great significance as while the Sunrisers will be hoping to get themselves into the Top 4 race with back-to-back wins, the Knight Riders will be eyeing to make it three wins in four. By collecting another two points, KKR will go a long way in announcing themselves as firm contenders to make it to the playoffs.

A fascinating contest awaits us in Kolkata!

Ground Details

Know this: there’s going to be no paucity of runs at the Eden on Friday. Ahead of the clash between KKR and RCB — the first at the Eden this year — we spoke about how the venue, of late, had been a batting paradise and the Kolkata wicket stayed true to its reputation as the home side, batting first, posted 204.

But in the very same contest, something curious happened. For the longest time, the Eden wicket had been the pacers’ best friend — before the KKR-RCB clash, pacers had taken nearly 70% of the wickets in the preceding 12 months — but that contest saw a total of 12 wickets fall to the spinners. There was plenty of grip and turn, and the tweakers had plenty of fun.

KKR’s spinners, in fact, took 9 wickets and Rana’s KKR became the first team in IPL history to take 9+ wickets via spin in a single innings.

Expect good bounce and carry, and decent help for the pacers up-front, but don’t be surprised if the wicket aids the slower bowlers like it did in the RCB clash.

Suggested Team

While you could go for the above team, you can also choose your team from Cricket.com’s Fantasy Research Centre. You can use this tool to build your team with the help of algorithms. Then, based on your preferences, the platform will guide you through creating the ideal fantasy XI.

Captaincy Suggestions

Small Leagues: Aiden Markram (capt), Rahul Tripathi (vice-capt)

Grand Leagues: Rahul Tripathi (capt), Varun Chakravarthy (vice-capt)

Stats that matter

> Sunrisers’ batting average of 13.7 against spin is the worst among all sides in IPL 2023. They also have the worst strike rate against spin (100.6).

> Kolkata’s spinners, meanwhile, have taken the second-most wickets against spin (15) despite playing only three matches, and have boasted the second-best average (14.8) behind Gujarat Titans.

> Venkatesh Iyer has a pretty impressive record at Eden, averaging 38.33 and striking at 159.7 at the venue in five matches. The man who blitzed a flawless 83 against the Titans, Venky Iyer’s T20I scores at the venue read  20 (15), 24* (13), 33 (18) and 35* (19).

> Across his last 8 T20 innings, Rinku Singh has averaged 46.17 and has struck at 155.6. In this period, he’s been dismissed under thirty just twice.

> Washington Sundar has gone wicketless in each of his last four T20 innings. In fact, in his last 8 IPL games, he’s only taken 2 wickets.

Grand League punts

> Considering Sunrisers’ struggles against spin, it’s an absolute no-brainer to have both Varun and Narine in the side. Not only that, it’s advisable to take a punt on at least one of the two frontline spinners.

> Tripathi and Markram are bound to do a bulk of the run-scoring for SRH, so make sure you pick both these batters in your fantasy XI.

Top Criclytics Projections

Predicted XI

KKR: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), N Jagadeesan, Nitish Rana (c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Suyash Sharma, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy

SRH: Mayank Agarwal, Harry Brook, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram (c), Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Washington Sundar, Marco Jansen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik, T Natarajan