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South Africa and Afghanistan will lock horns in the first semi-final of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba, Trinidad, on Wednesday, June 26.
It also marks the beginning of Set 9 of the official T20 World Cup Fantasy League, with the set comprising the two semi-finals.
Set 8 was a very eventful and high-scoring one, with my team put in a rather peculiar position. 635 of the 675 points I scored came from only five players, and a couple of better selections or even a different captaincy choice could've seen me significantly rise up in the rankings.
Total Points: 6072.
Global Rank: 30.
Let's now go straight into the best Fantasy XI for Set 9.
Transfer Deadline: 06:00 AM (IST) on Thursday, June 27, and 08:30 PM (local) on Wednesday.
Best Fantasy XI for Set 9 - ICC Men's T20 World Cup Fantasy 2024
Wicketkeepers: Quinton de Kock (SA) ($8.5) vs AFG and Jos Buttler (ENG) ($9) vs IND.
Batters: Ibrahim Zadran (AFG) ($7) vs SA, Virat Kohli (IND) ($10.5) vs ENG, and Tristan Stubbs (SA) ($8.5) vs AFG.
All-rounders: Marco Jansen (SA) ($8) vs AFG and Keshav Maharaj (SA) ($8) vs AFG.
Bowlers: Naveen-ul-Haq (AFG) ($7.5) vs SA, Rashid Khan (AFG) ($10) vs SA, Fazalhaq Farooqi (AFG) ($7) vs SA, and Anrich Nortje (SA) ($9) vs AFG.
Booster Used: None.
Set preview
With only two fixtures in this set, this game keeps moving closer and closer to a Dream11 single-match Fantasy system.
With a thunderstorm expected to considerably disrupt India's second semi-final clash with England at Guyana, I'm putting most of my eggs into the SA-AFG basket as the two sides go head-to-head in Trinidad. The weather is expected to be clear for the most part at the Brian Lara Stadium, although it should be a fairly low-scoring outing,
Team selection
Virat Kohli and Jos Buttler, openers and talisman batters of their respective sides, are the two players I'm backing to deliver in the IND-ENG game, in case there is any opportunity for any cricket to be played in that encounter.
Coming to the SA-AFG encounter, it is likely to be a low-scoring affair, and I don't expect either side to take too many risks with regards to their batting, with Afghanistan, in particular, proving to be tricky to dismiss, especially if they bat first. A big part of that is the solidity provided by Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz, and the former is my only batting pick from Afghanistan.
After trusting Reeza Hendricks and getting burned repeatedly, I have decided it's time to move on to other players, and I'm backing Tristan Stubbs and Quinton de Kock to come good with the bat for the Proteas. They're also very active in the field regarding catches and run-outs, making them even more handy picks.
Trinidad is a venue that has favored the pacers this year, it is historically a spin-friendly venue, and there are a couple of spinners I can't go without. Keshav Maharaj could tap into Afghanistan's weakness against left-arm spin that not many teams have exploited to full effect. Meanwhile, Rashid Khan is in the form of his life, and given his ability to tonk a few with the bat, he is a must-have.
Fazalhaq Farooqi and Naveen-ul-Haq have been instrumental to Afghanistan's success in this tournament, and considering that the South African batting lineup hasn't been one-bit convincing this year, they should definitely add to their wickets tally in this match.
Lastly, Anrich Nortje and Marco Jansen are the pacers I'm backing to deliver in this fixture. With his extra bounce, Jansen could be the key to breaking a solid Afghan opening partnership that many have tried and failed. Although, the more in-form Rabada is also an option ahead of him.
Nortje, meanwhile, will be the key to South Africa's chances in this encounter, and with him increasing his bowling duties at the death, he's also a quality captaincy option.
While I have heavily backed players from the SA-AFG fixture, if the forecast for the IND-ENG game gets better, I might pick a few more players from that encounter.
Captaincy: Rashid Khan and Anrich Nortje are the frontrunners for captaincy as of now, with the wicket-taking Naveen-ul-Haq and a differential punt on Quinton de Kock also on my mind.
