We expected the Ahmedabad deck to act up a little because of all the rain in the hours leading up to the last game, but despite looking drier and patchier than normal, it played true to batters. That tells you everything you need to know about the deck today: it is likely to be good for batting again, so we will build our fantasy teams accordingly.

There was one noticeable difference in the previous game: lack of help up front for Shami in the second innings. He did take two wickets, but not as a result of the new ball movement. It remains to be seen whether this is an anomaly.

Much of the data related to this game (Shami vs CSK Openers, Noor vs left-handers, Gaikwad vs Rashid Khan, Dhoni vs Mohit, Gill vs Jadeja, and so on) are dissected to death, especially because the same teams have already faced each other twice in the competition. So, rather than boring you again, we will just state that, regardless of the nature of the deck, we will have certain players in our XI.

They are Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Rashid Khan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, and Ravindra Jadeja. And the rest of the XI will be determined by the outcome of the toss and what we hear at the pitch report.

Fantasy Insight of the day:

Sai Sudharsan coming back into the XI will have a negative impact on the fantasy potential of David Miller and Vijay Shankar, as he is the kind of player who takes a lot of time out of the game. We have discussed about this in the first half of the competition. To make matters worse, CSK have Matheesha Pathirana bowling four overs in second half of the innings, making lower middle order batters unappealing from a fantasy standpoint.

Cricmetric Stat Attack:  Sai Sudharsan's batting average in the first 12 overs of a T20 game - 95.5 runs per wicket

Final Fantasy XI (Dream XI - Safeplay)

WK: D Conway

BAT: S Gill (C), R Gaikwad (VC), Sai Sudharsan

AR:  R Jadeja, H Pandya

BOWL: Rashid Khan, M Shami, M Sharma, M Pathirana, D Chahar

Final Fantasy XI (Dream XI - Nuclear, Employed by @Indianmourinho)

WK: D Conway, W Saha

BAT: S Gill (C), R Gaikwad, Sai Sudharsan

AR:  R Jadeja, H Pandya

BOWL: Rashid Khan, M Shami (VC), M Sharma, M Pathirana

Predictions:

Pre-toss:

S Gill Over 33.5 Player Performance Points 
M Shami Over 20.5 Player Performance Points

In-play, post-toss, Q & A, Exchange22, Rario, Sixer calls and Investment Strategy: On the Premium Channel

For Predicted Playing XIs, Advanced Matchups, Daily Fantasy Board, Fantasy Home, Cricbattle Fantasy Ranking Order, Venue Notes, BOD, BOM, and much more, please check: Covers Off IPL Final Pack