Deadline: September 21, 7:30 PM IST
Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium
Pitch report
As witnessed on Sunday, the batsmen will have to be mindful of their strokeplay. The pacers generated lateral movement throughout the match, while the leg-spinners had their moments. Balance your fantasy teams with seamers and wrist-spinners.
Power players
David Warner has been the highest run-scorer in three of the last four editions he was a part of. When he wasn’t at the top, he was the second-highest – only behind Virat Kohli in 2016. With 4,706 runs at a strike rate of 142, he is the third-highest run-scorer in the Indian T20 League. He is also the only player in the top five to average over 40.
Be it any format, Virat Kohli is often the most popular player in fantasy leagues. The highest run-scorer in the league is also the only player to score four centuries in a season. Having been away from the game for half a year, the King will be hungrier than ever.
Having more than two star-studded players in a match makes the world of fantasy cricket more and more chaotic. Adding more to your dilemma will be AB de Villiers. He was at his absolute best in the previous edition, smashing 442 runs at 154. The onus of scaling up the run-rate in the middle-overs will be on him.
In a meagre 10 matches, Jonny Bairstow hit 445 runs in the previous edition – all this at a superior strike rate of 157. His last four scores in international cricket read 55, 84, 0, and 112, and these runs beckoned in the last two weeks. He will be itching to add more runs to his tally.
Smart picks
Two of the most impactful leg-spinners will be up against each other. While Rashid Khan is the only player to take 4 wickets in 4 balls in T20Is, Yuzvendra Chahal’s 6 for 20 are the fourth-best figures. Given the slowness of the pitch, the duo will play crucial roles.
Aaron Finch was in a decent form in Australia’s recently concluded series in England. The nature of the pitch and the situation of the match do not bother him. He’ll go berserk. Pitted against Finch will be Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has time and again outsmarted the Australian captain by trapping him on his pads with an in-swinger. It will be a fascinating battle to watch out for.
Mohammad Nabi took 12 wickets in as many matches and maintained an outstanding economy of 5.1 in the Caribbean T20 League. With the bat, he played a finisher’s role and snatched victories in high-pressure situations.
Probable XIs
Hyderabad: Jonny Bairstow* (wk), David Warner* (c), Vijay Shankar, Manish Pandey, Priyam Garg/Virat Singh, Abhishek Sharma, Mohammad Nabi*, Rashid Khan*, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed
Bangalore: Aaron Finch*, Devdutt Padikkal/Parthiv Patel, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers* (wk), Moeen Ali*, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris*, Washington Sundar, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal