FANTASY
Follow UsAfter a high-scoring affair in the first T20 International (T20I) at Auckland, the action shifts to the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui where New Zealand and West Indies will clash in the second match of the series.
In the first game at Eden Park, West Indies recovered from losing five wickets for just one run between overs four and six, to post a competitive total thanks to some brilliant hitting from Kieron Pollard and he was well-supported by Fabian Allen. For New Zealand, it was Lockie Ferguson who starred with his maiden five-wicket haul in the format to tilt the game in his team’s favour, after West Indies put up 55 runs on the board in just three overs.
New Zealand have a clear advantage when it comes to overall record against West Indies and also in the recent past, where they have won three out of the last five matches, while West Indies have managed to win just once.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Overall: Matches – 18 | NZ – 8 Wins | WI – 4 Wins | NR 1
Last 5 T20Is: NZ – 3 Win | WI – 1 Win | NR 1
Suggested Teams
While you could go for the above team, you also have the option of choosing your own team from cricket.com Fantasy Research Centre. Based on algorithms we come up with six different teams that could fetch crucial points.
Ground Details
Pacers have fared much better at Bay Oval when it comes picking up wickets more regularly, but the spinners (8.1) have been more economical, compared to the pacers (9.6) at the venue in T20Is since 2018. Fast bowlers have struck once every 26.9 runs, 16.8 deliveries apart, while the corresponding numbers for the spinners stand at 33.8 and 25 respectively, which is reflective of the yawning gap between the two. However, it would be advisable to stock your team with more pacers as they have picked close to 70 percent of the wickets here. Having a spinner wouldn’t hurt either.
The average first innings T20I total since 2018 at Mount Maunganui is 172, while in the second innings it is just 148. Safe to say that the team winning the toss would prefer to bat first. This will be a day game and as such dew should not play a huge factor in the outcome, but given that there are showers expected, the bowlers could find it difficult to grip the ball, just like they did in the first T20I at Eden Park.
Player match-ups
Kieron Pollard and Tim Southee came face-to-face in T20s in 2015 in the IPL before they came up against each other at Eden Park. While Pollard has a strike-rate of over 200, the New Zealand pacer has dismissed him thrice in nine innings, two of which have come in the last four outings. Which team’s captain will emerge on top at the end of this game?
Martin Guptill has been caught behind twice in his last three encounters against Sheldon Cottrell in T20s, including his downfall in the first T20I. The Kiwi opener who is known to take on the bowlers right from the word go has struggled against the left-arm pacer over the years, scoring at just run-a-ball in six innings.
All 22 runs scored by Glenn Phillips in the first game in Auckland came off one over from Fabian Allen. Phillips has continued his good form against Allen at the international stage after dominating him in the CPL, having smacked the spinner for 78 runs off just 39 balls in their four meetings in T20s.
Captain selection
Kieron Pollard has been in tremendous form of late. Not only did he manage to score 268 runs at 53.60 along with a strike-rate of 191.42 for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2020, he also smacked a vital unbeaten 75 off just 37 in the first T20I at Eden Park. No batsman has a better strike-rate in T20 cricket than Pollard (199.93) in T20s this year, among batsmen who have scored at least 250 runs. He is also West Indies’ leading run-scorer in T20Is since 2019. The fact that he can score vital runs and can chip in with a wicket or two makes him an ideal candidate to lead your fantasy team.
Our Criclytics player projection predicts, Pollard could score 11-28 runs and pick up 0-1 wickets in this match
X-Factors
Lockie Ferguson made his presence known in IPL 2020 starting off with 3 for 15 against SRH and then won his team the match in the Super Over. Fitness issues has stopped him from appearing more regularly for New Zealand, but he proved to be quite a handful in the first game, in which he finished with figures of 5 for 21, becoming only the second Kiwi bowler to pick up a fifer in T20Is. Since 2018, Ferguson has picked up 15 wickets for his country in the shortest format at an average of 12.3 and has struck once every 10.8 deliveries.
Our Criclytics player projection predicts, Ferguson could pick up 1-2 wickets in this match
While Mitchell Santner had an off day with the ball in the first game, he bounced back well with the bat scoring 31 off just 18 to help his side to a win. He is New Zealand’s leading wicket-taker in T20Is since 2019 with 23 scalps to his name and is not too shabby with the bat either, having scored 148 runs at a strike-rate of 126.54 down the order.
Our Criclytics player projection predicts, Santner could score 7-16 runs and pick up 1-2 wickets in this match
Nicholas Pooran may not be in the best of form for West Indies of late, but he had a terrific IPL recently in which he scored 353 runs at a strike-rate of close to 170. He made just one at Eden Park, but the West Indies vice-captain remains in good stead to bounce back and guide his team to a series-levelling performance. Moreover, Pooran has proved that he has a safe pair of hands behind the wickets and if he manages to pluck a catch or two, it will only add to your points tally.
Our Criclytics player projection predicts, Pooran could score 11-28 runs in this match
