T20 World Cup, India vs Canada: Fantasy 11 prediction, teams, captain, vice-captain, toss and venue analysis

It will be interesting to see if India make any changes to their XI given that they have already made it to the next round. The Indian think-tank will be hoping that their superstar Virat Kohli comes back to form before the Super 8 – King Kohli has been dismissed for three single-digit scores to start his campaign in the competition. India has won its last 5 encounters while Canada has lost 4 of its last 5 matches.

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LAST 5 MATCHES

INDIA – WWWWW

CANADA – LLLWL

Likely Playing XIs

India might make a couple of changes and give Kuldeep Yadav and Sanju Samson a go ahead of the Super 8. Ravindra Jadeja and Shivam Dube are likely to sit out.

India likely XI

Batters – Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson

All-Rounders – Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel

Wicketkeeper – Rishabh Pant

Bowlers – Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav

Canada likely XI

Batters – Aaron Johnson, Navneet Dhaliwal

All-Rounders – Pargat Singh, Ravinderpal Singh, Nicholas Kirton, Saad Bin Zafar

Wicketkeeper – Shreyas Movva

Bowlers – Dillon Heyliger, Kaleem Sana, Jeremy Gordon, Junaid Siddiqui

Statistical Performance (India)

1. Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli will be key for India at the top of the order. He has failed in the first three matches so will be raring to go against Canada. Kohli was in amazing form in IPL 2024 – he was the highest run-getter of the tournament. Kohli has an outstanding record in T20I cricket and T20 World Cups – he had the highest aggregate in 2014 and 2022. He was also the Player of the Tournament in the 2016 edition.

VIRAT KOHLI IN T20 WORLD CUPS

INNINGS – 28

RUNS – 1146

AVERAGE – 67.4

STRIKE RATE – 130.5

50-PLUS – 14

2. Jasprit Bumrah

Jasprit Bumrah is an all-time great in white-ball cricket. He was the Player of the Match for his 3-14 against Pakistan. Bumrah has been brilliant with the new ball in the tournament and is bowling the good length hitting the batters hard making them jump at the crease.

JASPRIT BUMRAH IN T20 WORLD CUPS

INNINGS – 13

WICKETS – 16

AVERAGE – 18.3

ECONOMY RATE – 5.9

4-PLUS – 0

Players who can make a Difference (India)

1. Suryakumar Yadav

Suryakumar Yadav did not have a great IPL season but is still rated among the best T20I batters in the world. SKY has the highest strike rate in the format’s history – a staggering 168 – and has already hammered four hundreds and 18 fifties in just 60 innings. SKY is a 360-degrees batter whose unconventional stroke-play might just be the game-changer again on Saturday. SKY has a strike rate of 182 against pace in T20I cricket!

2. Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Pant’s unorthodox stroke-play makes him a match-winner against any opposition. He has been in fine form in the tournament scoring 96 runs in three innings in difficult batting conditions. Pant’s ability to get the boundaries behind square make him a dangerous batter especially if he is batting in the Top 3.

Statistical Performance (Canada)

1. Nicholas Kirton

The batting allrounder had scored 51 off 31 balls in Canada’s match against USA. Nicholas Kirton is a vital cog in Canada’s batting order and he has scored 290 runs in 22 T20I matches at a rate of 135 since 2022.

NICHOLAS KIRTON IN T20Is

INNINGS – 17

RUNS – 365

AVERAGE – 28

STRIKE RATE – 123

50-PLUS – 1

2. Nikhil Dutta

Nikhil Dutta is a talented off-spinner who will get some purchase in Lauderhill. He has bagged 11 wickets in his last 8 matches at an economy of 6.45 and strike rate of 12.

NIKHIL DUTTA in T20Is

INNINGS – 25

WICKETS – 25

AVERAGE – 21.08

ECONOMY RATE – 6.65

4-PLUS – 1

Players who can make a Difference (Canada)

1. Aaron Johnson

The opening batter for Canada has been in good form and in his last 10 matches, has scored 352 runs at a strike rate of 149.8. Johnson scored a fighting fifty against Pakistan in Canada’s last encounter in the tournament even as everyone else around him failed with the bat.

2. Kaleem Sana

Not played many matches for Canada, but Kaleem Sana is a wicket-taker in the T20 format as the left-arm medium pacer has picked 28 wickets in 19 matches at a strike rate of 15.2 and economy of 6.1.

Team Head to Head

India and Canada have never faced each other in a T20I.

Player Head to Head

1. VIRAT KOHLI vs LEFT-ARM ORTHODOX IN T20Is SINCE 2022

Virat Kohli has struggled to up the ante against slow left-arm orthodox bowling and it will be interesting to see if Saad Bin Zafar introduces himself in the powerplay against the Indian superstar.

INNINGS – 10

BALLS FACED – 80

RUNS SCORED – 95

WICKETS – 3

2. ROHIT SHARMA vs OFF SPIN IN T20Is SINCE 2022

Off spinners have troubled Rohit Sharma in the last couple of years in T20I cricket. He has been kept quiet by them while also getting dismissed three times in 7 innings.

INNINGS – 7

BALLS FACED – 28

RUNS SCORED – 33

WICKETS – 3

3. AARON JOHNSON vs LEFT-ARM ORTHODOX IN T20Is

Aaron Johnson struggles against slow-left arm orthodox. Axar Patel might be a good option in the first 6 overs!

INNINGS – 11

BALLS FACED – 133

RUNS SCORED – 143

WICKETS – 5

Venue and Pitch

The Central Broward Park & Broward County Stadium in Lauderhill in Florida will be hosting its third game of the tournament. It is raining cats and dogs around the city – the encounter between Nepal and Sri Lanka on June 12 was a washout. Overall, Lauderhill has hosted 16 T20I matches out of which the team batting first has won 11 and the side chasing just 4 so it is definitely advantage setting a target at the venue. The captain who has won the toss has elected to bat first on 9 occasions. The probability of winning the match after winning the toss is 46.7%.

The average score batting first is 167 for 7 while the average score chasing is 141 for 7. India hammered 244 for 4 in a one-run loss to the West Indies at Lauderhill in 2016 – it is their second-highest T20I total and their highest overseas! The highest score at the venue is 245 while the average score is 152. The lowest team total at Lauderhill is 81.

The pitch in Lauderhill will help the spinners who have a better average, strike rate and economy rate than the fast bowlers at the venue. The slower bowlers have an average of 21.1 and economy of 7.1 at the venue. There is a 50% chance of rain on Saturday.

Match Prediction

India will start firm favourites for the encounter. They have the might in the batting and bowling. Kohli will score big in this match while the two Indian left-arm spinners – Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel will bag a heap of wickets. Aaron Johnson is the trump card for Canada – he needs to make it count in the powerplay. Based on the strengths of the two units, India have an 85% chance of winning the encounter.

Fantasy XI

And finally, this is our Fantasy XI for the India vs Canada encounter. We have 8 players from India and 3 from Canada. Bumrah will be lethal with the new ball while Kuldeep and Axar will stifle the opposition batters in the middle overs. Rohit Sharma and Aaron Johnson could be devastating in the powerplay. Given the spinner-friendly wicket, Kuldeep will be a good choice for captain while Axar is a safe bet as vice-captain.

We have included Sanju Samson (batter), Shivam Dube (all-rounder) and Arshdeep Singh (bowler) as the back-up options.

Fantasy XI

Wicketkeeper: RISHABH PANT

Batters: SURYAKUMAR YADAV, AARON JOHNSON, VIRAT KOHLI, ROHIT SHARMA

All-rounders: HARDIK PANDYA, AXAR PATEL, SAAD BIN ZAFAR

Bowlers: JASPRIT BUMRAH, KULDEEP YADAV, DILLON HEYLIGER

BACKUP PLAYERS:

BATTER – SANJU SAMSON

BOWLER – ARSHDEEP SINGH

ALL-ROUNDER – SHIVAM DUBE