Anant Lineup:
Rohit Sharma
Shaun Marsh
Kane Williamson
Steven Smith
Luke Wright
Jos Buttler
Albie Morkel
Ravindra Jadeja
Ravichandran Ashwin
Mitchell Starc
Sohail Tanvir
On a Spin friendly pitch, A team needs level headed batsman more than hitters, be it Test, ODI or T20.
My side has plenty of those. Rather we even have plenty of spinners.
With Rohit Sharma, We have a batsman who scores at a S/R of 130.92, averages 32.39. He has scored most centuries by an Indian(tied at 3 ) in T20s. He also has the MOST 50+ scores by an Indian in T20s(40, and yes, more than Virat who has 38).
Shaun Marsh is a player who has established himself as a player who is a fairly regular scorer of Boundaries. In fact, He averages a 4 or a six every 5.98 deliveries. Also, he has scored 37 50+scores and 2 100s in T20s. And before I forget Average of 41.30 (2nd highest among players with 50+innings)
Kane has established himself as among the best batsmen of the past few years in all formats. He is currently the only batsman to be in top 10 in all 3 formats! He has knack of converting those 20s into 50s, with him having registered a remarkable 11 50+ scores in just 82 innings and that too in tougher batting conditions He also registers least dot ball percentage in an innings (39.4%)(Compare that to Chris Gayle who has 64%) and hits a boundary every 5.8 balls in his first 10 balls ( Kohli does that every 6.3 balls). He has a remarkable dot ball ratio of just 34% which highlights his ability to hit a boundary or rotate strike on a regular basis. Kane also manages a 4 every 6.54 balls (5th highest among players who have faced 500balls in International T20s) (For reference Kohli has it at 7.18). And not just this, he has a remarkable bowling average of 7.07 after having bowled almost 120 overs in T20 cricket!
Steven Smith is a player who needs no introduction. Steven Smith has had an excellent record in Spin Friendly conditions. His International average is more in Asia than abroad. He averages a very respectable 35 in IPL at a good S/R of 131.64. But, the biggest advantage of having Smith in side is the amount of runs he scores in singles and doubles. He is one of the only batsmen to have less than 50% of his T20 runs having scored in boundaries (46.9%). Although a test Cricket stat, Smith averages 67.81 since Jan 2013.
Luke Wright is possibly my team’s wildcard player. A High score of 153* is a mark of his class. A player with 33 50+ scores in T20. 3rd most T20 100s (6), ONLY player to have 2 fastest T20 100s in top 20 fastest T20 100s list! A S/R of 146.68 and Avg. of 28.54 to add to the achievements.
Jos Buttler has established himself as a fine WK and a batsman. S/R of 145.07 and average of 27.34, not many WKs can boast of better numbers.
For a person watching IPL, Albie needs no introduction. In Batting, a fantastic S/R of 137.80 at an average of 25.86. He has 217 6s and 237 4s to his name in just the T20s! Kohli can testify to his big hitting skills as well when albie hit him for 28 in an over, and since then, Kohli hasn’t bowled an over. He has a good bowling S/R of 20.4 and is a very handy 3rd pace bowler.
Sir Jadeja is a more than decent player in spin conditions. An Important member of Rajasthan Royals’ IPL win, and later a record transfer in IPL auctions.
Ashwin is the best Spin bowler, if not bowler today and possibly among top 2-3 in T20s of all time. 6.67- Not the no. of times Fellaini elbows someone/ 90 minutes but Ashwin’s economy rate. Also, he can bat!
Then come by 2 Fast bowlers. Starc and Tanvir. For Tanvir, I can only say 1 thing- RR vs CSK 6-14: Best bowling figures on Asian soil. And also, for a fast bowler, an economy rate of just above 7 highlights his ability to control runs
Starc- A bowling strike rate of 14.7(highest for a bowler with 300+ overs)- which basically highlights that should he bowl a 2 over spell, in the beginning of a match, there is a 81.7% chance of him taking a wicket.
Why I’d win?
I have the best spinner and fast bowler, it’s a pitch with variable bounce, and so a strong bowling lineup does matter! I have the better spin duo (best in the world IMO), I have a bowler who has the best bowling figures in Asian soil.
And I also have batsmen who can hit but also run singles and doubles. My batting goes till no.9, and I have atleast 7 bowling options, with 4 spinners.
The biggest batting threat in MJJ’s side: Chris Gayle has struggled vs Quality offspinners- Harbhajan Singh has dismissed him four times in T20s conceding only 54 from 59 balls, Mohammad Hafeez has got him four times for 17 runs in 30 balls, while R Ashwin has dismissed him three times for 50 off 66 balls.
And while I agree Kohli doesn't have any major weaknesses, Kohli has struggled vs Left arm bowlers in T20Internationals. His strike rate drops from 142 to 116 vs Left armers.My side has 3 left arm bowlers and hence are prepared to contain his scoring ability and build pressure to take risks which would give me a chance to take his wicket
My batting lineup has much more variety and is not reliant on any one player which makes the side more balanced and more favoured for victory
