Cricket articles for FISO by an Indian Cricket Writer

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I've been approached by a professional cricket writer from India (who writes for cricket magazines/websites) about providing cricket content (e.g. weekly, daily or match previews) for the FISO members. The content would be focussed on International matches and the IPL plus the Champions League unless there was a big demand for other content.

This would probably only work if I created a private fantasy cricket forum and those who pay FISO Ltd a nominal amount are allowed access to that forum - the funds raised are then used to pay the writer for his content. Probably need 50 to 100 members signing up to keep the member's payment low in relation to the cost of entering Fantasy Cricket games. Those potentially interested please either post here or PM me,

Let me know what you think. The write has provided a 'sample' preview below which is for the Twenty20 final tomorrow. Please also comment on the preview as to how future previews could be improved for Fantasy Cricket purposes.


Previewing the finals of ICC World T20

If T20 is ‘Maggi Noodle’ cricket, then it is rather difficult to describe the length of a world cup tournament that lasts as long as this, and gives a sense of ending even before it started. Probably it is the sign of the times that we live in, where an IPL goes beating around the bush for a period of almost a couple of months before arriving at the winner, as does the fifty-over World Cup, that gives that almost surreal feeling, and a sense of withdrawal symptoms even before the final gets played on Sunday.

Yes, the finals of the ICC World T20 that will feature an expected and another not-so team, in the form of Sri Lanka and Pakistan after both the sides got better of their opposition in the semi-finals. Pakistan needed to overcome a rather strong-looking South Africa – a semi-final defeat that one has grown to get used to from the Proteas – while Sri Lanka swatted the West Indians aside with some brilliant individual play.

Sri Lankan batting: For the finals, it is rather easy to hand-pick Tilakaratne Dilshan as the batsman that most Pakistani bowlers will be training their guns on. And if Dilshan’s track record in the tournament is anything to go by, then the FISO Fantasy experts will also be tempted to get him into the side, despite there been a catch to his selection. The law of averages may work against this opener, after he has already got to more than 300 runs in the tournament, almost 100 runs more than the next best batsman in the tournament. The unbeaten 96 that he smashed in the semi-finals constituted more than 60% of the runs that the Lankans got, and was only five short of what the West Indians got as a team!

On the other hand, a forty-year old Sanath Jayasuriya has been leaping around in the crease like a cat on a hot tin roof; in the process, barely making contact with the ball. Former skipper Mahela Jayawardene began as a sulking T20I batsman in the tournament, but what would have saved him from the new captain, Kumar Sangakkara’s ire would have been the couple of knocks in the Ireland and the New Zealand Super Eights game. From Sangakkara’s point of view, he had an excellent first game against Australia where he batted with both, aggression and aplomb and saw the Sri Lankans off.

My punt is, that Sangakkara may have a bigger role to play in the finals if his Sri Lankans have to go through anywhere near that silverware.

Sri Lankan bowling: The Sri Lankan bowling, on the other hand, faces no such woes. Mendis’ slight injury in the semi-finals apart, the cherry-chuckers look as fit as a fiddle, and if there were any doubts about the back-up personnel to the likes of Mendis and Murali, Angelo Matthews’ three-wicket burst put them at the back of the mind. Apart from the two twirlers, Isuru Udana’s ability to bowl a quicker ball amongst the slowish medium pace that he threatens to send down have had many a batsman in trouble, and he could prove a handful against the likes of Shahid Afridi.

Pakistani batting: Afridi aside – and that is because I do not believe that a batsman of his temperament could end up playing back-to-back innings of substance – it is the form of Kamran Akmal and Younus Khan that would have warmed the cockles of the Pakistani fans’ hearts. To me though, I get this sense that Abdul Razzaq’s batting may have a bigger role to play than it has in the tournament so far, and he may be used by the captain as a surprise move up the order. Shahzaib Hasan is a youngster, and though he has exhibited that he can tonk the ball a fair distance, my concern is that he does not possess a foot movement to counter the swinging ball, and may not have even played in front of a jam-packed Mecca of cricket inhabited by Pakistani fans from all nooks and corners of the country. Not my idea of a good pick!

Pakistani bowling: The bowling is in safe hands, in fact, it gives the Sri Lankan counterparts a run for their money. In Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal, Pakistan has two jokers in the pack who can turn the game around as easily as the countries have refused to play in their country! And when bowling from one end cannot get more parsimonious than Umar Gul coming in and thundering those yorkers into the batsmen’s toes, getting the desired runs does become a riddle worth cracking.

Lord’s past record: Apart from the couple of games against Netherlands, this ground hasn’t been a high-scoring one, with scores in the range of 125-155 been scored. While one cannot term it as a bowling friendly wicket, it would be difficult to discount as a batsman’s paradise, making it difficult for the FISO Fantasy experts to choose between cost effective batsmen or economically viable bowlers. To me, this definitely doesn’t look like a ground on which one can expect more than one half-century per inning, and so the choice of batsmen could more be on the lines of who the more consistent players of the tournament are, than the temptation to go for flashiness.

Tips:
Batsmen to look out for: Younus Khan, Abdul Razzaq, T.Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara
Bowlers to look out for: All of them! (okay, make that Saeed Ajmal and M.Muralitharan)