ICC World T20 2016 Fantasy Guru: The end game
South Africa vs Afghanistan
Transfers made – 1 (0); Transfers left – 5 (4)
Virat Kohli out – Hashim Amla in (if SA bat first)
Captain – Quinton de Kock
With Quinton de Kock, AB de Villiers, Kagiso Rabada and Imran Tahir already in my team, the only other player who interests me is Hashim Amla. Between Amla and Faf du Plessis things turned out exactly as predicted in the last article, with the point about how the former has the best chance to produce an impact performance against weaker bowling units. I expect that to be the case again unless Afghanistan make an early breakthrough, which is very unlikely to happen.
South Africa turn to Duminy’s bowling in two cases: there has to be at least a single left-hander at the crease or the frontline bowlers should have fared miserably. Against England, the Proteas faced both those situations. I don’t see it happening today, and the top 4 should do the bulk of the batting work, so Duminy stays out.
Coming back to Amla, I wouldn’t have him if South Africa bat second; the best case scenario then happens to be a half-century, which I can do without. But if they bat first, hoping for his failure would turn out to be really foolish, considering the type of deck he is playing on and the Afghanistan bowling attack that hasn’t been performing up to its potential. I have no choice but to take him in.
Let’s just hope Afghanistan bat first to make things easier, though.
West Indies vs Sri Lanka
Transfers made – 3 (2); Transfers left – 2
Rohit Sharma out – Chris Gayle in
AB de Villiers out – Dwayne Bravo in (If Windies bowl first)
Quinton de Kock out – Andre Russell in (If Windies bat first)
Captain – Chris Gayle
- Do both 2 and 3 if you have more than 4 transfers left.
It’s Bangalore. It’s Sri Lanka. If that doesn’t convince you about bringing in Chris Gayle, nothing else will. That’s one done. Now, I will have to again choose between Dwayne Bravo and Andre Russell if I use up a substitution in the South Africa vs Afghanistan match.
I would go with Bravo if West Indies chase and Russell if they bat first. The reason being, if someone has a role to play with bat during a Windies chase, it will be Bravo who comes ahead of Russell. I expect the top order to have no issues finishing it off. But if they bat first, Russell could get promoted for his big-hitting prowess, which makes it very dangerous to go in without him in your team.
Marlon Samuels hasn't done anything extraordinary to warrant a selection yet. As a rule, I don’t get any ordinary bowlers in my team on a batting paradise for obvious reasons. You will have to be either extremely good or extremely lucky to be amongst the wickets here.
The only other option worth considering is Tillakaratne Dilshan. Afghanistan bowled and fielded extremely badly for Dilshan to score as much as he did the last time. While West Indies are not exactly a great bowling side, I expect them to produce a much better performance, which will minimise the impact Dilshan can have; however, if you have more substitutions left, definitely go for him.
Australia vs Bangladesh
Transfers made – 2; Transfers left – 0
Chris Gayle out – Shane Watson in
Dwayne Bravo out – Usman Khawaja in
Captain – Shane Watson
I don’t think I need to explain why I need Shane Watson here. So, moving on, I see three options for my second and last substitution: Usman Khawaja, who looked in glorious touch against New Zealand; David Warner, if he opens the innings; and Tamim Iqbal, who is in the form of his life.
Australia won’t go back to Warner opening the innings so soon, thereby simplifying things a bit for us. It now becomes a straight shootout between Khawaja and Iqbal. Based on the deck and the quality of the bowling attacks that will be on show, I am going with Khawaja here.
Glenn Maxwell is a notable omission, but I don’t see his off-spin playing a huge role at this venue and against a team that plays spinners well. As predicted, Shakib Al Hasan’s bowling impact against Pakistan was reduced by the nature of the surface, and I don’t usually pick him for his batting in T20s. There are no reasons why that would change here.
Even if Mustafizur Rahman plays, there are quite a few factors that could against him tomorrow: a return from injury, batting quality of the opposition and the surface that won’t help his cutters get any grip off it.