ICC WC T20 2016 Fantasy Guru Tips: Uncharted 'associate' waters

The Phase 1 fixtures are in a way that you really can’t stock up substitutions and hope to get points off them. The only option is to keep replacing players, at least most of them, and hope they get you the returns, so don’t be tricked into believing you can play the waiting game.

General rule for Phase 1: Don’t pile substitutions up.

I have been receiving feedbacks about how the scoring system is skewed towards bowlers. I believe so too. But picking bowlers in T20s is a huge risk. There are a lot of limiting factors for them, and even the best ones could easily return nothing. So it really comes down to whether or not you are prepared to take that chance. I don’t see an issue with a scoring system favouring bowlers.

Zimbabwe vs Hong Kong

Captain – Hamilton Masakadza

The newly appointed Zimbabwean captain Hamilton Masakadza has T20 international scores of 33, 63, 79, 30, 20, 93* in his last 6 matches, against Afghanistan and Bangladesh, two of the best bowling attacks in the first phase of the competition. That leaves me with no option but to get him in.

Not to mention the 32-year-old right-hander followed those up with domestic T20 scores of 83*, 162*, 66 and the most recent match-winning 68* against Ireland in their second and last warm-up fixture, at Dharamsala.

Captain him.

My next pick would be Richard Mutumbami. The wicketkeeper-batsman is in form (scores of 29, 50*, 19, 40, 32 in the last five T20 innings suggest that), bats at No.3 and gives you wicketkeeping points as well. Since you can have more than one glovesman in the side, I don’t see anything that stops me from getting him into my team.

With Neville Madziva and Luke Jongwe unavailable, Tinashe Panyangara would be the team’s go-to bowler both with the new ball and at the death. The medium pacer bowling to a susceptible Hong Kong opening pair whose combined last 5 innings scores don’t cross a total of 150 is too tempting to ignore. His recent form has been pretty good too, with two 3-fors in the 4-match T20 series against Bangladesh.

And here they are....

Both Sikandar Raza and Sean Williams have been in woeful touch of late. But leaving both of them out could turn out to be a massive goof-up, thanks to their all-round skills.

Williams in last 5 matches: 8, 10, 9, 7, 32 and 1 wicket in total.

Raza: 23, 1, 2, 7, 6 and 4 wickets in total. Raza didn’t play any of the warm-up matches as well.

I will go with Williams here as he bats two positions higher (sometimes three) – at No.5 – and is more certain to bowl his overs.

The only Hong Kong player who interests me is Mark Chapman – arguably their best batsman. He bowls left-arm spin as well. Enough in there to warrant a chance.

Afghanistan vs Scotland

Captain – Mohammad Shahzad

Frighteningly explosive and amazingly consistent for his style of batting, Afghanistan’s Mohammad Shahzad – with 12 half-centuries and 1 century in 62 matches - would be my other wicketkeeper in the side. Rest of the side’s top 5 are not compelling enough.

That takes me to off-spinning all-rounder Mohammad Nabi, whose demotion to No.6 has resulted in him not being as effective as he can be, but if it’s his day and you don’t have him, nothing can save you. Too big a risk to gamble on.

Dawlat Zadran, with his death bowling and long handle wielding skills, would be my third and final pick from the Asghar Stanikzai-led side.

Scotland have an exciting batting line-up, but Afghanistan’s bowling unit is likely to be too strong for them. Leg-spin, off-spin, SLA, pace, swing, reverse – you name it, and you will see some Afghanistan player rising his hand offering that particular option.

Differential picks and why they don’t get the Fantasy Guru’s nod

Vusi Sibanda – Not as sensational as Masakadza or as safe as Mutumbami.

While he has notched up 3 40+scores in 7 innings since his comeback, with two of Zimbabwe’s top 3 already in my team, someone has to be left out.

Malcolm Waller – Situational play + competes with Sean Williams

Assume Hong Kong bat first and you are in a lot of trouble with Waller in the side ahead of someone like Mutumbami or Williams. You will have to hope for all of the following things to go your way:

Hong Kong’s shaky batting order needs to put up a total for Waller, coming in at No.4 or 5, to contribute.

The in-form top 3 needs to fail.

Williams shouldn’t get promoted ahead of Waller.

And even if all these happen, Waller shouldn’t throw his wicket away. Too many ifs there for my liking.

Babar Hayat – Loser theory

I don’t like to go overboard on a team that I think is going to lose. Hayat is capable of game-changing knocks as his stats suggest, but seems like a hit-or-miss case – has only 3 50+ scores in 40 games. Add to that two consecutive ducks in his last two innings, I have a bad feeling about this.

Haseeb Amjad – Not the bowler’s game

As stated in the beginning of this article, bowlers are a huge risk in fantasy cricket, more so when you are pitting against the favourites to win the match.

Asghar Stanikzai – Lack of real potential

Since becoming captain and promoting himself, Stanikzai has given steady returns. There is a 49 and 34 in his last 5 innings. Even if he comes off, I don’t think I will be losing much. And I can only have so many players.

Hamid Hassan – Recovery period

The right-arm pacer has ruled associate cricket since his debut; at the same time he is making a comeback after an extended injury lay-off, so I would like to sit on him for now.

Preston Mommsen – Bowling threat

Mommsen has to be Scotland’s best batting bet. But he bats too low (No.6) and is up against a side that has all sorts of variations up its sleeve.

Remember, these are still differential picks, so you can try your luck with any of them. The ones that make me nervous about leaving out are Waller, Hassan and Amjad. There is your clue.

No substitutions have been used so far. Shakib Al Hasan and Sabbir Rahman, two of the most certain picks for the next set of matches, have been added to complete the team.