After a memorable T20I series in which Pakistan whitewashed the World champions West Indies by 3-0, their first whitewash in T20 format. Pakistan will lock horns with visitors West Indies in the first One-day international of the three-match ODI series on Friday. Pakistan will look to improve their ranking (Pakistan is now at 9th position in ICC one day rankings) by winning this series too. While the visitors West Indies with a different captain will look to take revenge of the T20I series loss through this series. After a convincing victory against Sri Lanka the world champions Australia are high on confidence in this format of game. Before coming to this match the Aussies beat Ireland convincingly in the one off ODI. The world champions will look to continue their dominance in this format of game. While the visitors will play this series without their key player AB de Villiers who is ruled out of this home series and the away series against Australia due to an injury. A lot of responsibilities will be on Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis.
Best economical pick – Pakistan’s left-arm spinner Imad Wasim was the leading wicket-taker in the series with nine wickets at an economy-rate of under 4.5 per over against the West Indies, which Pakistan clinched 3-0.
Top captains & vice captains – George Bailey has been Australia’s most consistent player since the Sri Lanka series. He steps up every time to deliver. He had a terrific ODI series against Sri Lanka where he adjourned as man of the series and will be looking to follow it up in the series against South Africa as well along with good performances with the bat whenever needed. The South African opener Hashim Amla is one of the most impactful players in this format. He scores run for fun in this format, a class batsman who scores a strike rate of 90s will be best choice for vice-captain post for any fantasy team. Join Daily Fantasy League & Win Daily Prizes: CricketCountry.CricBattle.com
Smart pick – Aaron Finch can be a real game-changer for Australia. He has immense potential and can take the match away from the opposition very quickly. Sri Lanka got a taste of that in the ODI series against Australia in Sri Lanka and if Finch can repeat that performance, Australia will be on top of the game once again.
Cautious Pick – West Indies have some quality batsmen in their ranks, but Marlon Samuels, Johnson Charles and Evin Lewis were below par in the series. West Indies scored 115 runs (1st ODI), 144 (2nd) and 103 (3rd) in the series, which is embarrassing when teams across the world score around 170 runs in one single T20.
CricBattle XI – George Bailey (c), Hashim Amla (vc), Imad Wasim, Aaron Finch, Adam Zampa, Imran Tahir, Kagiso Rabada, Quinton de Kock, Travis Head, David Warner, Babar Azam
(Soubhagya Swain– Fantasy Guru, CricBattle Analyst)