FANTASY
Follow UsAll is not yet done here in Group 1. It is going down the wire, all four teams are still in contention but only two, unfortunately, can make it to the next stage from this group. But it is the big fixture, Afghanistan taking on Australia. Australia are in trouble, a deep one after their dismal show in the first fixture of the tournament.
Ever since then, the hosts and the favourites have only been playing catch-up cricket, not the ideal in a tournament like this. Not just that, with injuries clouding over the likes of Tim David and Aaron Finch, all is there for Australia to be lost.
Ground Details and Team Combination
Only two games have been played thus far at the Adelaide Oval, and to be fair, both of them have shown signs of been a high-scoring encounter. While Zimbabwe picked the fielders in their clash against Netherlands, India and Bangladesh produced a high-scoring thriller, which could be the theme of the venue.
On an average, the teams batting first have scored 151 but after the clash between India and Bangladesh, teams would want at least 175-180 to have a safe cushion. Chasing has proven to be better here than other venues, considering how there wasn’t a lot of movement for the pacers under lights.
23 out of the 25 wickets at the venue have been in the pacer’s pockets, a huge 92%. Thus far, from the two games before this game day, 5.8 wickets have fallen/innings to pacers, meaning there is only one way to go with your team.
Suggested team
Captaincy Suggestions
For small leagues: Aaron Finch (c), Rashid Khan (vc)
For grand leagues: Marcus Stoinis (c), Mitchell Starc (vc)
Stats that Matter
- Amongst the cricketers in Australia’s squad, no one knows the venue better than Aaron Finch, who has scored 338 runs, at an average of 30.73 and a strike-rate of 133.6. You would wonder what has experience got to do with this? Well, Virat Kohli showed it in flesh against Bangladesh. Not to forget Finch leads the run charts for Australia, with 107 runs
- Adelaide Oval is Rashid Khan’s second home, and at the venue, the leg-spinner has picked up 44 wickets, significantly more and even perhaps equal to the number of wickets combined taken by the Australian current bowling unit at the venue. His average of 17 is impeccable and he could very well be the key after having a rough tournament thus far.
- Not a big surprise but top-order batters have enjoyed success at the venue. Across all T20s at Adelaide Oval, the top order (1-3) average 27.9 and score at a strike-rate of 132.2, more than the middle-order.
Grand League punts
- Why Marcus Stoinis out of all people? Stoinis has scored 101 runs, with a high average of 50.5, and a staggering strike-rate of 177.2, making him one of the strongest players in the tournament. Not just that, Stoinis has the ability to bounce out opposition, with a wicket in his last game, against Ireland. So, expect the right-handed all-rounder to continue his momentum.
- While there is no clear top wicket-taker for Australia at the moment, Mitchell Starc could be the difference maker against Afghanistan. Starc has picked up two wickets at the venue in T20Is, but averages just nine. Starc’s opening spell against Ireland blew them to smithereens and he could well throw this game open
Here are the top ten Criclytics projections
Probable XIs
Australia XI: David Warner, Aaron Finch (c)/Cameron Green, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David/Ashton Agar, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood
Afghanistan XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Usman Ghani, Ibrahim Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi (c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fareed Ahmad Malik, Fazalhaq Farooqi
