ICC World T20 2016 Fantasy Guru: Schedule mantra to the rescue

There are a few things more certain than my research team slogging it out to find answers for my queries, sometimes for even the most ridiculous ones. Here is their latest attachment:

Hi Boss,

Great work with the match yesterday, I see. Some of these mails we have been getting are super-fun, I must admit. Why don’t you Cc us the ones we miss out on? Or the passwords for your Social Media accounts? It takes seconds for me to hack into them anyway. Going forward, here is everything you wanted for the next couple of matches.

Chris Gayle has had a couple of 50+ scores and a 37 in his last 6 innings. His last couple of international outings have seen scores of 77 and 90, against South Africa in South Africa. And yes, that’s irrelevant, I know. But we need to show we do our bit too, you see.

West Indies promote Denesh Ramdin to No.4 in certain cases, but it’s safe to assume that it’s Dwayne Bravo’s position unless they are in a really bad situation, say, something like 10-2.

Andre Russell didn’t pick up any wickets in both the warm-up games, but otherwise, his bowling form has been pretty good. His batting numbers, however, are inexplicable: a total of 37 runs in his last 8 T20 innings.

We couldn’t figure out why Samuel Badree didn't play any of the two practice matches, but with Sulieman Benn picking up 5 wickets in those encounters, West Indies are likely to go in with a 2-man spin attack. Jerome Taylor, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Carlos Brathwaite and Darren Sammy should form the pace attack.

While both the England openers – Jason Roy and Alex Hales – fared pretty decently in the couple of warm-up matches they played, in the build-up to those, neither of them had crossed an individual score of 30 in their combined last 13 innings. Despite having a pretty good international record, Joe Root seems to be facing the similar problem as well – getting starts and unable to convert them.

Eoin Morgan’s form seems to be fading off after a brilliant year since World Cup, and he also faces the danger of getting demoted in favour of Jos Buttler.

Buttler’s highest is 54 in the last 7 innings. You can add a couple of 30s and 20s to that. But I presume you are going ahead anyway because of his ODI exploits. You are desperate for a differential, aren’t you?

While Adil Rashid hasn’t done anything great at the international level, his domestic T20 performances have been pretty impressive of late. He has picked up a total of 5 wickets in the two warm-up games including some very priced scalps.

Sri Lanka have had a very difficult few months, and I struggle to find any real outstanding fantasy options in their team. And well, we know about Afghanistan by now.

Regards,

Smoak and Co.

England vs West Indies

Transfers made – 5; Transfers remaining – 15

Virat Kohli out – Dwayne Bravo in

Rohit Sharma out - Alex Hales in

Ravichandran Ashwin out – Adil Rashid in

Shikhar Dhawan out - Jos Buttler in

Tamim Iqbal out - Chris Gayle in

Something tells me that England have come all the way down to let Chris Gayle take them to the cleaners. Contrary to what people think of Gayle, he is quite clever when it comes to playing T20s. The left-handed opener knows his weaknesses, and as a result, his threats; he sees them off and picks his targets accordingly.

It is only when you counter him with sustained quality, by which I mean at least a top-class pacer and a reasonably good off-spinner, he starts becoming vulnerable. England’s Achilles heel is their bowling: they don’t have pacers like Mitchell Starc or Mohammad Amir. While their spin department is pretty decent, Morgan’s go-to bowler, Adil Rashid, being a leg-spinner, becomes a target for Gayle. Moeen Ali seems to be the only real threat. So, I believe there are enough reasons to get Gayle in.

Since West Indies don’t play their second match any sooner, I will have to choose between Dwayne Bravo and Andre Russell. Russell’s numbers can sometimes be very misleading. His last 8 innings were for the PSL team Islamabad United who played very defensively with him and when they decided to be aggressive, for some strange reason, they fed him straight to Mohammad Amir by opening the batting with him. No prizes for guessing how that turned out. Batting at 6 for this West Indies team, with his bowling form, he might not be a bad bet.

Bravo, on the other hand, has been no less effective either, even rediscovering his batting potential to an extent. When put in a situation like this, I go for the option that’s most certain to get a stage; in this case, it turns out to be Bravo, who bats two positions higher and is likely to bowl more at the death than Russell.

Gayle storm imminent

England play two games in four days, which calls for the application of Schedule Mantra. Rashid will be my first pick, given his recent form and the point system here.

There are no real standout options when it comes to the English batting unit. Jason Roy can’t play spin. Eoin Morgan seems to be struggling for form and can get demoted. Joe Root would be nullified if the openers last for more than 4 overs. With his lack of hitting power, there is also a possibility of him getting frustrated by the cutters that the Windies pacers would bowl.

Considering all these, Alex Hales’s form and his comparatively cheaper price makes him a better bet. While not exactly an exceptional player of spin, if he can see off Sulieman Benn, he should be alright.

Jos Buttler is a very tricky decision. He usually bats at No.5, but can sometimes be promoted, as we have seen lately. Given that he has a secondary scoring option and he fits into Schedule Mantra, I am going to take him in.

Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan

Transfers made – 2; Transfers remaining – 13

Dwayne Bravo out – Dinesh Chandimal in

Chris Gayle out - Dushmantha Chameera

Captain – Dinesh Chandimal

Tillakaratne Dilshan comes off once in every 5 innings. Good luck finding that. And he seems to have developed a bizarre weakness for spinners as well. Lahiru Thirimanne has played a couple of very decent knocks in the warm-ups, but his impact could be lessened if the openers put together a good partnership. Chamara Kapugedara, while being very promising, hasn’t done anything outstanding so far. Angelo Mathews looks like a shadow of a player he can be.

And all these leave me with no option but to pick Dinesh Chandimal, whose wicketkeeping skills could come in handy here. In the absence of Lasith Malinga, Dushmantha Chameera becomes their death bowler and that warrants his selection. His pace and bounce could be too hot to handle for Afghanistan players, and he can sneak in as a budget pick as well.

Despite Sri Lanka’s woeful form and Afghanistan’s continued excellence at the associate level, I expect the Mathews-led side to comfortably seal this off, and hence no Afghanistan players would make into my side. I can't carry them till their next match as well, so it makes little sense.

And here are a few things I am looking to get information on before we move on to the next few matches. I have put my best team on it. Thought I could give a sample of that mail to you as well.

Hi Smoak,

Get me the make-up of the Australian top 4.

What are SA planning to do to accommodate Hashim Amla? What happens to AB de Villiers in that case?

How do New Zealand plan to adapt to a different deck at Dharamsala?

And the dig about last game, it makes sense to stock your team up with Indian spinners, but the Kiwi ones, especially when they are bowling second? One should be extremely fortunate to get on the right side of it. What happened yesterday was an off-pattern game you can’t strategise for. Not often would you see a subcontinental team fail in a chase of 126 in such a spectacular way.