We have India, Bangladesh, Australia, Pakistan, West Indies, New Zealand, England and Afghanistan on the field this week with as many as nine matches set to take place. This is a good time for Nostragamus fantasy managers to sort out their plans through the week and we are here to help with five players you need to bank upon.
David Warner
Country: Australia
Match/Series: Australia vs Pakistan
David Warner just can't put a foot wrong in T20s. The brilliant opener is well past his Ashes woes and is now in prolific form after the Sri Lankan series. A washed out match in Sydney did not give him too much opportunity to show off his purple patch with Aaron Finch going berserk. There could be more from Warner this week.
Aminul Islam
Country: Bangladesh
Match/Series: India vs Bangladesh
Bangladesh played for the first time since 2015 in a T20I match without a left-arm spinner. But they never felt that absence - except that they sorely missed Shakib Al Hasan - with leg-spinner Biplop Aminul Islam putting on an impressive performance. One glance at the kind of wickets in this series and you know a spinner like him is likely to thrive. He is a good x-factor player to back this week.
Jonny Bairstow
Country: England
Match/Series: England vs New Zealand
Jonny Bairstow shone in the warm-up game but in the first two T20Is, he has failed to build on his rather average T20I record despite his booming reputation in the shorter formats of the game for England.
Dropped from the Test side, Bairstow will want to show that he can do what he does pretty well in the Indian T20 League and other places day in day out.
Rishabh Pant
Country: India
Match/Series: India vs Bangladesh
He ran Shikhar Dhawan out with a poor call in Delhi and then went on to make little impact in the game. Rishabh Pant is now under real pressure to perform with Sanju Samson waiting in the wings. Surely India would want to have a look at Samson sometime this series and Pant will want to ensure it's as a pure batsman rather than in his stead.
Can he fire like he does so often for the Delhi franchise in the Indian T20 League?
Hazratullah Zazai
Country: Afghanistan
Match/Series: West Indies v Afghanistan
Zazai’s exploits are well acknowledged in the shortest format of the game but in ODIs at least he has a lot to prove. That said, he remains the backbone at the top of Afghanistan’s batting line-up and should enjoy the true bounce that Dehradun offers along with the pace of the West Indian quicks. Zazai relies on bat speed and power and irrespective of conditions, he is among the most dangerous short format batsmen coming up in world cricket.
Now that you have read our suggestions, get your team selections rolling right away!
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Brenton Edwards
