South Africa, along with India, are only the teams to win both the warm-up games. Australia, on the other hand, suffered a significant loss against India in their second warm-up fixture. However, they won the first against New Zealand.
Moreover, South Africa had a great year – Victories in both Test and T20 series in the Caribbean, followed by T20 whitewashes of Ireland and Sri Lanka in July and September. On the other hand, Australia lost their T20 series against the West Indies and Australia in recent months.
Match Conditions
Venue: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Date and time: October 23, 2021 | 3.30 PM IST
Weather: It is going to be a hot day with an average of 31 degree celsius.
What can you expect?
This venue has got longer boundaries. Even though run-scoring is meant to be challenging in this condition, the outcomes were contrary in the recent games that have been held here. A fresh pitch will be used, so one can expect the unexpected for the first few games and wait for your turn to make condition-based fantasy team risks on the following games. Sri Lanka and Ireland scored with ease in their qualifying round in this venue. It is a 160 to 170 runs pitch, which supports batting second with the involvement of due.
Playing XI Probables
Australia
David Warner and Aaron Finch opened together in both the warm-up games. Australia played almost the same batting line-up in both games except Glenn Maxwell, who missed the first. I expect the team to play the same unit of batters for their first few games. It goes like this – Warner, Finch, Marsh, Smith, Maxwell, Stoinis, and Wade.
On the bowling front, they have Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, who are definite starters, with Kane Richardson and Josh Hazlewood as the third and fourth seamers. Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar are the spin choices. The fourth bowler of the team will be decided based on the conditions they play.
Team: Warner, Finch (c), M Marsh, Smith, Maxwell, Stoinis, Wade (wk), Cummins, Zampa, Agar, Starc
South Africa
Reeza Hendricks and Quinton de Kock are likely to open, whereas Aiden Markram will walk in at No.3. They must have given serious thought to the inclusion of Temba Bavuma into this line-up of aggressive batters. I would say he can play the role of Steve Smith in Australia by batting at No.4. But that will put the in-form Rassie van der Dussen at 5, which will be too low for the striker. His century against Pakistan in the second warm-up game might have started a few Playing XI debates in the management. So, we have to wait and see how they order up the batters in the squad. Other possible batting inclusions will be Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller.
They have Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Bjorn Fortuin, Tabraiz Shamsi, and Keshav Maharaj to start with the ball. However, Dwaine Pretorius as the key all-rounder will likely find a spot in the playing XI.
Team: Hendricks, De Kock, Markram, Bavuma, Van der Dussen, Miller, Pretorius, Shamsi/Fortuin, Maharaj, Rabada, Nortje
Fantasy Suggestions
This is going to be a chasing game. So pick your Dream11 team, keeping that in mind.
With the pitches getting slow with the innings’ progression, pick the top-order batsmen from both sides as the powerplay overs are expected to be exploited a lot.
Pick out bowlers who usually bowls the 16-20 overs from the team that bowls first. It is one of our ten mantras to pick the best fantasy team.
Choose players like Maxwell, Nortje, and Maxwell, who have been in the country for some time now, thanks to IPL. So they knew the conditions and must be adapted to the weather already.
Dream11 Team
Wicket keepers: Quinton de Kock is an easy pick with Matthew Wade walking in too late
Batters: Rassie van der Dussen scored a match-winning century against Pakistan, making him a lot easier pick in both the proteas side and your Dream11 team. Otherwise, Steve Smith showed what he is made of and how he can be a crucial part of the side in the game against India. Finch and Warner are in poor touch, but big players have a habit of coming back strong. So get them in if you have more choices to exploit. Markram is another exciting choice who is in some good form.
All-rounders: Glenn maxwell, I believe, is in the form of his life, and he is well set for the conditions too. Obvious pick. One can also vouch for Mitchell Marsh as he will bat at No.3 and be a valuable bowler too.
Bowlers: Pick two pacers and two spinners. As it is a day game, you can have an equal amount of bowlers from both sides with unlikely due factors.
Captaincy pick: This is the first game of this round, and it is not easy to predict. For the safer side: Pick a top-order batter who bats second as Captain and pick a bowler who bowls the death overs in the first innings as the vice.
