Fantasy XI – Texas Super Kings (TSK) vs Washington Freedom (WAF)

WK: Devon Conway

BAT: Faf du Plessis, Moises Henriques, Glenn Phillips, David Miller

AR: Marco Jansen, Mitchell Santner, Dwayne Bravo

BOWL: Anrich Nortje, Gerald Coetzee, Rusty Theron

C/VC: Devon Conway, Gerald Coetzee

Grand Prairie Stadium – Pitch Report & Venue Details

Average First Innings Score at the venue: 181

Bat First vs Bowl First in all T20s: Win batting first – 755%, Win chasing – 25%

HAM-ESS Players in the top 10 leading run-scorers list at the venue: David Miller(5), Devon Conway(6)

HAM-ESS Players in the top 10 leading wicket-takers list at the venue: Mohammad Mohsin(3), Gerald Coetzee(9), Rusty Theron(10)

Ground Dimensions: The venue has long straight boundaries (73m) and square boundaries (61m, 72m). ThirdMan-DeepMidWicket (55m, 76m) and FineLeg-DeepCover (62m, 66m).

Pitch Report: There was a good amount of bounce on the wicket and the ball comes nicely onto the bat since this is a newly laid pitch. The surface has also shown to be good for run scoring in both innings.

Predicted Playing XI – Texas Super Kings (TSK) vs Washington Freedom (WAF)

Texas Super Kings: Devon Conway(wk), Faf du Plessis©, Lahiru Milantha, David Miller, Milind Kumar, Mitchell Santner, Dwayne Bravo, Calvin Savage, Gerald Coetzee, Mohammad Mohsin, Rusty Theron

Washington Freedom: Matthew Short, Andries Gous(wk), Mukhtar Ahmed, Glenn Phillips, Moises Henriques©, Obus Pienaar, Marco Jansen, Akeal Hosein, Dane Piedt, Anrich Nortje, Saurabh Netravalkar

Fantasy Notes - Texas Super Kings (TSK) vs Washington Freedom (WAF)

Points to consider

  • Base Team picks: Devon Conway, Marco Jansen, Mitchell Santner, Anrich Nortje, Gerald Coetzee, Dwayne Bravo
  • Daniel Sams played the T20 Blast Final less than 24 hours ago and might not have enough time to travel and recover to feature in this match.

Wicketkeeper

  • Three options - Devon Conway, Andries Gous, and Lahiru Milantha; among which Devon Conway is a default pick and also the first pick in our fantasy team.
  • Andries Gous was the 3rd highest run scorer in the Minor League Cricket 2023 season; Inns - 17, Runs - 692, Avg - 44, SR - 144
  • Lahiru Milantha was the 5th highest run scorer in the Minor League Cricket 2023; Inns - 14, Runs - 534, Avg - 38, SR - 148

Batters

  • The top picks are all international stars - du Plessis, Miller, Phillips, and Henriques.
  • These batters will also have some threats; du Plessis (left arm pace esp. Jansen), Miller (express pace - Nortje), Glenn Phillips (left arm spin - Santner and quick wrist spin of Tahir, if he plays). Henriques on the other hand has some allround backup as he bowled in the first match as well.
  • Mukhtar Ahmed T20 stats: Inns - 46, Runs - 1266, Avg - 29, SR - 146, 50s - 4, 100s - 3; He is a former Pakistan international with some experience. He started off well with a boundary in the last match. before he was dismissed in a weird fashion after leaving the ball for LBW. Note that he can also bowl part-time leg spin.
  • Milind Kumar had a decent MLC 2023 season with the bat; Inns - 14, Runs - 511, Avg - 39, SR - 137; He will bat in the middle order for TSK and has represented Tripura in India Domestics. Although he does not have a great record in his T20 career with a 29 Average, a 112 Strike Rate in 52 innings, but he is capable of some good innings. That said, we cannot rely too much on him over the other reliable stars.

Allrounders

  • Marco Jansen, Mitchell Santner, and Dwayne Bravo will be a part of our base team,
  • Jacobus Pienaar's stats in MLC 2023; Inns - 14, Runs - 443, Avg - 37, SR - 157; The Minor League Cricket has much lower quality, so numbers can be inflated. He played most of his cricket in  South Africa and has a much better record in FC and ODDs than in T20s. Note that he can also bowl some part-time left-arm orthodox spin.
  • Mohammad Mohsin picked up a couple of easy wickets against LAKR but those 4 wicket deliveries were not very threatening, It is unlikely that a similar performance can be repeated consistently. That said, as a wrist spinner in the team, he will always have some role to play especially if TSK are bowling second. He had also picked up 16 wickets in 13 Minor League Cricket 2023 tournament.
  • Matthew Short with a selection of just 8% might be a good punt as he will open the batting and can bowl off spin if required against TSK's left handers. He had an excellent BBL 2022 season but he is vulnerable against spin (especially SLAO and wrist spin)
  • Matthew Short vs SLAO in T20s since 2020: Outs - 5, Avg - 19, SR - 115 & Short vs Leg Spin: Outs - 15, Avg - 16, SR - 120. He can also be countered by express pace - Gerald Coetzee and Mitchell Santner will be his biggest threats.

Bowlers

  • Anrich Nortje and Gerald Coetzee for their express pace are wicket-taking bowlers and we will keep them both on our team. In addition to them, Akeal Hosein has some allround value and is one of the best left-arm spinners in the world - but there might be a small possibility of his overs getting cut again, against a left-hand dominated TSK middle order.
  • Rusty Theron (17%) and Saurabh Netravalkar (2%) have differential potential as they will bowl in the powerplay. It will be more difficult to pick up wickets for Netravalkar against a solid TSK batting but he also bowled his other 2 overs in the last 5 overs of the match - ending with good economical figures of 0/23 in his 4 overs.
  • Calvin Savage is the fastest bowler in USA domestics, is a right-arm quick bowler originally from South Africa. He won the MVP award in the Central division of Pacific conference in MLC 2023 after he picked up 17 wickets at 5.24 economy in 13 innings and also made a good batting contribution with 272 runs at 157 SR.
  • With a number of left-handers in TSK, Dane Piedt is another South African who can be a good punt pick as an off-spinner.

 

Note: Return after the toss for a fully updated XI, Also stay tuned to our telegram for regular updates

Stats Credit: Cricinfo, Cricmetric

">