Player watch:
Brendon McCullum - As alerted in the last article, McCullum will be joining New Zealand for national commitments. Michael Hussey will be replacing him in the Chennai Super Kings playing XI.
Quinton de Kock - With his 50 in the match against Sunrisers, De Kock has cemented his spot in the Daredevils playing XI. He should come in handy in the matches against CSK and RCB, especially with his wicket-keeping skills returning points.
Shakib Al Hasan - Shakib will be joining Kolkata Knight Riders for the rest of the season following the end of Bangladesh-Pakistan series. Johan Botha will have to sit out to accomodate him.
Glenn Maxwell - The shots that Maxwell played against the Knight Riders indicates form. He should be amongst the points in the upcoming matches.
SRH vs KXIP:
Captaincy picks - David Warner, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
The track at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad, has been pretty flat this season. With Ishant Sharma replacing Trent Boult in the Sunrisers playing XI, their bowling isn't the same anymore. Kings XI Punjab, on the other hand, haven't been great either. So, I expect a lot of runs here.
If the Sunrisers don't bring in one of their overseas pacers into their team, Glenn Maxwell, who showed signs of coming back to form in the last match, will be amongst the runs as well. Sandeep Sharma and Anureet Singh have been exceptional at the death, so Eoin Morgan wouldn't be a great option in this match. Moises Henriques may struggle to replicate his last game heroics, as naturally he has had his troubles playing spin and clearing boundaries.
DD vs CSK
Captaincy picks - Nathan Coulter-Nile, Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo
This could be a tricky match. The deck at Raipur wasn't easy to bat on, providing assistance to both seamers and spinners, in the first match played here between DD and SRH. With Ravichandran Ashwin in the Super Kings camp, it may not be a great idea captaining any of the three left-handers in Delhi Daredevils - Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy and Yuvraj Singh. Dwayne Bravo's slower deliveries will come into play, as well, at the death.
With Dwayne Smith and Suresh Raina struggling for form, Faf du Plessis will have a big role to play here. MS Dhoni, too, could cash in on the weak DD death bowling unit.
KXIP vs RCB
Captaincy picks - Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Mitchell Starc, Virat Kohli
It's the same equation again. Sandeep Sharma or Chris Gayle - Who will win the battle? If Sandeep Sharma doesn't get Gayle, Gayle will get Kings XI. Provided he has enough batting time, AB de Villiers should aim for another biggie as well.
Virat Kohli and Mitchell are no less, either. Glenn Maxwell, irrespective of what he does against Sunrisers, wouldn't find it easy playing Starc and Chahal. Miller looks as good as he has ever been and is Kings XI's best bet.
MI vs KKR:
Captaincy picks - Lendl Simmons, Rohit Sharma, Robin Uthappa, Andre Russell
As seen in the previous matches at Wankhede, this should be yet another high scoring encounter. Therefore, captaining a batsman looks the best choice in this match. The likes of Brad Hogg and Piyush Chawla, despite their recent success, might find it extremely difficult to make an impact.
Russell's all-round skills makes him my first choice pick for captaincy.
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