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CricBattle Daily Fantasy Cricket League Tips

Mumbai vs Rajasthan on April 29

Two wins from five games might not be the best of starts, but the 6-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals for the Royals can be that shot in the arm they need. The Royals have taken quite a few blows in a short time in the tournament thus far. They are sorely missing two crucial cogs in their lineup: Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer. As if the absence of two key players had any small impact, another overseas option, pacer Andrew Tye, opted out owing to COVID-related concerns. Despite a ballistic batting order, the Royals failed to capitalize on the advantage that some true surfaces at the Wankhede offered to them. Their top-order seems frozen. After Stokes’ ouster, Jos Buttler has not performed to the team’s expectation at the top, while Manan Vohra, after four failed attempts, has been swapped with Yashasvi Jaiswal. The youngster looked fluent against Capitals but wasted his start. It would be harsh, though, to judge him early, more so when another one was backed by the team for four games. A potential solution there for the team was Livingstone, who played a vital role in taking his BBL team Perth Scorchers to this year’s finals (426 runs from 14 games at 30.32, SR – 133.96). However, having spent a considerable duration in bio-bubbles recently meant his ‘it is enough’ moment was round the corner. It arrived and he is now in England, having pulled out owing to bubble fatigue. As Royals continued to grapple with their top-order issues and powerplay concerns, a positive turned out to be Sanju Samson’s approach in the previous game, when he anchored the chase with a 41-ball 42 to take his team across. Having admitted “I don’t come with a mindset. I just love to keep enjoying my batting”, the skipper responsibly added, “but nowadays I play according to a situation and try to win games for my team.” And that showed in his approach. If Samson can hold the brittle top-order, and the Dube, Parag, and Tewatia trio can show responsibility, the Royals might be able to build a winning momentum. At the other corner are the five-time champions, the behemoths, Mumbai Indians. For a champion side like theirs, no issue seems too big to fix. Although, a heavily misfiring middle-order with lukewarm returns from the skipper Rohit Sharma’s bat has left in the same position as the Royals (two wins in five games). One knows that the struggle is real when a batting order like MI’s has two half-centuries, all told, to show after five games in the season. The Pandya brothers have a string of low-scores, most of them single-digits, while Hardik Pandya not bowling has left one more box unticked. Quinton de Kock has not managed to justify the management’s call to swap him with Lynn, while Ishan Kishan has crawled thus far. The Indians had a little break to recoup, strategize, and make a blueprint to get back to winning ways. They have punched way below their weight, leaving the scope of improvement to be the highest that perhaps has ever been associated with them. Any marginal improvement would do little help. They need to buckle up, super-fast.

Best economical pick – Chetan Sakariya has impressed the most among uncapped bowlers in the league this season. He has picked up seven wickets at an economy of 8.30 which is a bit high, however, he bowls the tough overs. Sakariya has the tendency to pick wickets at regular intervals and can certainly win a lot of Fantasy points.

Top captains & vice captains – Suryakumar Yadav is the only batsman from Mumbai who has looked in good form. He has already scored a half-century but is yet to set the stage on fire with the bat this season. Mumbai’s hopes will be on Surya to score big and start the Delhi leg on a high. South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris is the highest wicket-taker for Rajasthan with nine wickets to his name. He has also won his team a game with the bat in this season. Morris bowls in the powerplay and also in the death which gives him a chance to pick more wickets and as a result, more Fantasy points.

Smart pick – Rohit Sharma is playing the sheet anchor’s role to perfection, as he played yet another important knock of 63 runs in the last game. He has now scored 30+ runs in all of his last 4 games.

Cautious Pick – Ishan Kishan’s opportunities have been limited because of the position he has been batting, while his form is not up to the mark as well. The wicketkeeper-batsman has not scored 30+ runs even once and you can give him a miss for this game.

My XI – Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Chris Morris (Vice-Captain), Rohit Sharma, Chetan Sakariya, David Miller, Trent Boult, Rahul Chahar, Keiron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler