With just five matches left in the league stage (per team), there isn’t a lot of time left to salvage your fantasy season. But, with these picks, you can surely make a big last-gasp push to climb up the leaderboard.
Here are this week's top fantasy picks:
Player: Jasprit Bumrah
Team: Mumbai
After a rather uncharacteristic start to his campaign, Mumbai's ace speedster Jasprit Bumrah has hit form in his past few outings and is closing in on Kagiso Rabada, the leader in the race for the Purple Cap, in a hurry.
After picking up just five wickets in the first four matches, Bumrah has picked up 10 in his last five and has climbed up to second in the list of the season’s leading wicket-taker, trailing Rabada by four. In those five matches, Bumrah has bowled at an economy rate of 6.65 and a strike rate of 12, further illustrating just how sensational he has been. Injury concerns and his indifferent form had kept him out of everyone's fantasy, but Bumrah is now locked in and should be a constant in your fantasy team as well.
Player: Virat Kohli
Team: Bangalore
Before his now-infamous comment about Virat Kohli's wife, Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar noted how the Bangalore skipper is a rhythm player and needs match practice to hit his stride, and true to his prediction, after a few dodgy innings, Kohli seems to have found his groove with the bat.
After scores of 14, 1 and 3 in his first three matches, Kohli has scored 330 runs at an average on 110 in his last six outings with the bat, with his lowest scores being 33* in Bangalore's huge victory over Kolkata. While his strike rate has been rather decent at 135.80, he’s consistently been among the runs and is seemingly the only threat alongside Mayank Agarwal to KL Rahul's runaway lead in the race for the Orange Cap. Kohli is in supreme form and needs to be in your fantasy team.
Player: Chris Morris
Team: Bangalore
Bangalore are keeping pace with title-favourites Mumbai, who currently are in the second spot with 12 points and one of the primary reason for that has been the introduction of South African all-rounder Chris Morris into the playing XI.
After missing out on the first four matches due to fitness concerns, Morris made his debut for the team against Chennai and bowled an incredible spell of 3-19. He has since only gotten better and has picked up nine wickets in four matches. He hasn’t had many chances to showcase his ability with the bat but he did smash 25 off eight balls in his only innings with the bat this season against Punjab. The South African's all-round show has been sensational for Bangalore this season and he could be a fantastic late addition to your fantasy team.
Player: Quinton De Kock
Team: Mumbai
Mumbai's topscorer last season, opener Quinton De Kock struggled with the bat early in the season but the South African has been in terrific touch off-late and has scored three consecutive 50s and four in his last five outings with the bat, climbing to seventh in the list of the league’s leading runscorer. De Kock is also an extremely reliable keeper behind the stumps and rarely misses a catch or a stumping. If you are in the hunt for a wicketkeeper-batsman, then Quinton De Kock is the way to go.
Player: Lockie Ferguson
Team: Kolkata
Lockie Ferguson's season debut against Hyderabad made fans and analysts alike scratch their head in bewilderment, wondering why the team did not play him earlier in the season.
The New Zealand speedster bowled a terrific spell of 3-15 in his quota of four and then picked a couple of more scalps in the Super Over, finishing with overall figures of 5-17 in 4.3 overs. Ferguson's variations were too good for Hyderabad to handle and with that performance, he surely has locked his place in the team and hence, should be in your playing XI as well.
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Feature image courtesy: Twitter / @IndianT20League
