CLT20 2014: Fantasy Guru - Setting the stage up

Lahore Lions

Mohammad Hafeez

Picking Mohammad Hafeez is a no-brainer: plays on familiar conditions, no Dale Steyn in the opposition line-up, bats at no.3 and bowls his full quota more often than not. There are mixed signals from the Lions’ unit about how they would use Umar Akmal. He has both been employed as a No. 4 and a No. 6. At No. 6, he isn’t making it to my team; not just Umar, anyone batting at no. 6 and isn’t going to turn his arm over wouldn’t make it, even if it is AB de Villiers.

It is outrageous to see a player of such quality being used that way; given his style of play, which is highly risky, I would like to take the risk and keep him out, hoping that even if he comes in to bat at two down, he fails. With a top 3 of Nasir Jamshed, Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez, the Lions’ management have so far been inclined to reserve the younger Akmal for the finishing role, understandable with the brand of cricket being played these days.

Umar Siddiq and Saad Nasim, two unknown commodities, bat at No. 4 and No. 5 for the team. With the quality of batsmen from Pakistan we see these days, I don’t really think they will have something to offer. Nasim has only 323 runs to his name in 30 matches at a strike-rate of 111.76, while Sddiq has played only 4 T20 innings to look too much into his records.

As far as the bowling side of it is concerned, there are no real standout options. While Wahab Riaz has two modes – exceptional and dreadful, Aizaz Cheema is, at best, steady. If I have to go with one of the two, I will go with Cheema. Getting one of them in for the first fixture wouldn’t be a bad idea, as Mumbai Indians’ batting order, sans Rohit Sharma and Michael Hussey, can never be ruled out from a collapse. Adnan Rasool is an orthodox off-spinner with not much mystery about him; that he is 33 years old without a single international cap to his name doesn't induce confidence.

Preference order

Mohammad Hafeez

Ahmed Shehzad

Aizaz Cheema

Wahab Riaz

Umar Akmal

Nasir Jamshed

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians are not just hit with the injury to Rohit, but the return of Lasith Malinga means they will have to drop Hussey, who ended IPL 7 in top form. To make it worse, they have exactly 6 batsmen in the squad, which includes Aditya Tare and Sushant Marathe.

Marathe, a 28-year-old Mumbai local, has only played 8 T20 matches in his career. Their line up should read: Lendl Simmons, Aditya Tare, Corey Anderson, Ambati Rayudu, Kieron Pollard, Sushant Marathe, Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga, Praveen Kumar/Shreyas Gopal, Jasprit Bumrah, Pragyan Ojha.

Malinga walks into any international limited overs team any day of the week as long as he can run up and bowl, so my fantasy team is no exception. While Lendl Simmons had a disappointing series against Bangladesh, scoring 0, 40 and 6 in his three One Day International matches, he did complete the Caribbean Premier League 2014 season as the leading run-getter – 446 runs in 11 matches at a strike-rate of 128.90 and an average of 49.55, which is enough to warrant him a selection.

Batting higher up the order and capable of bowling 2 overs at the least, Anderson would have ideally made the cut, too; however, I choose to leave him out for this fixture, as he will be up against two off-spinners in Hafeez and Rasool. Overseas lefties against bowlers turning away from them on alien conditions is what you call as a recipe for disaster. Even if those two fail to snare him, not like the support cast of the Lions are any worse: Cheema and Riaz are more than capable, as well.

With no budget concerns faced so far, there is no reason why Rayudu should be considered, while using both Tare and Marathe ahead of Pollard could reduce the impact that the big West Indian can have both on the match and from the fantasy perspective. Out of Praveen Kumar and Gopal, whoever makes the playing 11 will make it into my team, too, as Pakistan batsmen are suspect against both quality swing and leg-spin.

Harbhajan Singh bowled as good as I have ever seen him in the last edition of the IPL, but, with the number of right handers in the lions line-up, he will find it difficult to be amongst the wickets. That he only had 14 wickets from 14 matches in what was arguably his best IPL season only adds value to my theory. The very fact that he bowls in the safest of passages in a T20 match (read: 6th over – 16th over) means the batsmen are less likely to go after him.

Preference order:

Lasith Malinga

Lendl Simmons

Praveen Kumar/Shreyas Gopal

Kieron Pollard

Corey Anderson

Ambati Rayudu

Captaincy picks

1st fixture: The safest of them all is Boult, as he is most likely to bag a couple of wickets and not concede too much, against a domestic line-up. Kushal could come off big time if he manages to escape the first 4 overs. While Williamson could be amongst runs, there are decent chances of him not getting to bat at all or batting at a time where he would have to accelerate more, which wouldn’t suit his brand of play. Captaincy, to me, has always been about certainty, so I would go with the Kiwi pacer.

2nd fixture: Hafeez or Malinga, both could give a plenty of points. I would go with the Pakistan all-rounder, as he has something to offer both with the bat and the ball. Simmons could turn out to be all or nothing, not someone who I would risk with when I have such safe options.