ICC World T20 2016 Fantasy Guru: Phase 3 set-up and the league code (updated for Ind-Ban)
New Zealand vs Pakistan
Captain – Corey Anderson
While it’s true that the Kiwi top order has failed to deliver so far, it’s largely due to the nature of the surfaces they were playing on. From the reports I have been able to gather, Mohali is expected to see a lot of runs; the ground’s history suggests the same as well. There could some assistance for the pacers in the powerplay (nothing alarming though), and trust the likes of Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Irfan to get the maximum out of it.
When it comes to such decks, picking the right players from the New Zealand top 4 becomes a lottery. All of Kane Williamson, Martin Guptill, Colin Munro and Corey Anderson have the potential to deliver,
Corey Anderson’s all-round skills make him the easiest of picks. Also if one of the Pakistan pacers finds his radar, Anderson could get plenty of time in the middle with the bat. Colin Munro and Martin Guptill would play an insanely aggressive game, and I don’t want to get caught up in that. Pakistan’s pacers, even with an off-colour Wahab Riaz, are too good to let them get away with it.
I would instead go with Kane Williamson, who brings some certainty amidst this madness I expect in this game. The Kiwi captain also had a pretty good T20 series against Pakistan earlier this year, scoring a couple of 70s and 1 30 in 3 innings.
Pakistan play twice in 4 matches, which is the shortest round to employ Schedule Mantra in this phase, so Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Amir become automatic picks. That Mohammad Hafeez is injured makes things a lot easier. Unless you are able to see any signs that indicate Shoaib Malik could bat up the order, he is not worthy of a spot.
The wicketkeeper selection turned out to be very tricky. When I looked at the options, I couldn’t find anyone worthy of a place at this stage of the tournament. Quinton de Kock would be playing on a rank turner, AB de Villiers is too expensive to carry around, Sarfaraz Ahmed and MS Dhoni hardly get a chance to bat, Johnston Charles could be dropped, and Jos Buttler may not be able to make an impact against Afghanistan, besides being too expensive what is likely to be a low-profile match.
That leaves me with Mohammad Shahzad, Andre Fletcher and Umar Akmal. You will be forced to drop the Afghanistan glovesman after his first match due to his price and the fixture designs, so if he fails against England, it will become a complete waste.
While England’s bowling performances so far tempt me into bringing him in, I am quite concerned about David Willey’s new ball skills that could nail the ‘pocket rocket’. Liam Plunkett’s likely inclusion, and the pace and bounce he can extract from the surface could do a Chris Morris on him. Chris Jordan is not a bad bet as well.
I am not sure how West Indies will use Fletcher if Gayle comes back, so that needs to wait as well. All these leave me with Umar Akmal who, in the absence of Mohammad Hafeez, could easily be expected to play a larger role in the team.
I am also able to get a couple of matches from him. Even if he flops, he can be thrown out faster. Do look out for a possible Sarfaraz promotion, in which case you can replace Umar Akmal with him. The playing XI will surely give you some clues into what Pakistan could do.
Mitchell Santner is a notable exclusion, but if the deck doesn’t assist spin, his impact could be reduced considerably. I can’t carry him to his next match as well.
Afghanistan vs England
Captain – Joe Root (if England bat first)/ Adil Rashid (if England bowl first)
I am going by the assumption that the deck at Delhi would have something in it for everyone.
With the inclusion of Shapoor Zadran, Afghanistan were quite impressive with the ball against South Africa. Hashim Amla found it quite difficult to get going, while Quinton de Kock was eventually tied down by the spinners. But then AB de Villiers happened, and it all fell apart.
If that’s to continue, Alex Hales and Jason Roy could get strangled up by spinners and give up. The same applies to Eoin Morgan. Jos Buttler wouldn’t be left with much to do if England chase.
Considering all these and Joe Root’s form, it makes him an easy choice. Afghanistan’s nature of play would likely result in at least a couple of wickets for Adil Rashid, who has been the team’s best bowler so far.
We have discussed enough about why Mohammad Shahzad would turn out to be a risky pick, which leaves us with the only other player worth considering for this match – Mohammad Nabi. The off-spinning allrounder has managed to somehow find a way in every match to be amongst the points: he is clever, bowls at the death and can hit the long ball.
England’s death bowling unit is probably among the worst in the tournament, and their batsmen aren’t that good against spin either. I could see a minimum of one wicket and some 25-odd runs here for Nabi.
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India vs Bangladesh (added at 4.30 PM, 23rd March)
Transfers made – 4; Transfers left – 16
Kane Williamson out – Rohit Sharma in
Joe Root out – Virat Kohli in
Mohammad Nabi out – Usman Khawaja in
Corey Anderson out – Andre Fletcher in
Captain – Virat Kohli
Bangalore has dished out two types of decks so far. The Sri Lanka vs West Indies encounter saw spinners getting a lot of assitance, while the Australia vs Bangladesh one was played on a much better wicket. So, the picks for this match will depend on what deck the match will be played on. Do look out for the pitch report where it will be mentioned, whether it’s the first deck or the second one.
Either way, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman are automatic picks. Sabbir Rahman played an outrageously bad innings against Australia, but his general form has been pretty good. And potential-wise, he is the best batting-talent Bangladesh has ever had, with Litton Das and Anamul Haque not far away.
The right-hander comes very cheap, bats higher up the order, rolls his arm sometimes, and I can get two matches from him – enough reasons to have him around.
I have brought in Andre Fletcher, hoping he would continue to open since Johnston Charles could be dropped after his woeful performances so far, and Usman khawaja, who is in the form of his life, earlier than I should to accomodate Rohit and Kohli.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Tamim Iqbal are notable omissions. I don't expect Ashwin to take more than a couple of wickets at best, while Tamim creates quite a few budget issues. However if you can afford him, get him in.