Australia 262 for 6 (Watson 79, Clarke 58*, Mpofu 2-58) beat Zimbabwe 171 (Cremer 37, Johnson 4-19, Tait 2-34) by 91 runs
Australia, gave a very uncharacteristic performance while batting, struggling against the disciplined spin bowling of Zimbabwe. Team managers may have made note of the economical bowlers that Zimbabwe seems to have, and are good value for money, especially on spin friendly subcontinent tracks. However, the Aussies quickly dismissed any remote chances of an unlikely upset once the pacers started rattling the batting line-up of Zimbabwe.
Here is how all that translated into Fantasy League points
Star of the Day
So you had Shane Watson as captain? *yawn*
It would be a surprising, and brave move for anyone not to make Watson as captain, or not have him in the team. Price constraints apart, he is an absolute must for any manager given the rich vein of form he is in. He proved that with a man of the match performance getting 260 points.
Mitchell Johnson was the other star, and was extremely economical apart from picking up 4 wickets to end up with 189 points.
Unexpected Star of the Day
For most part of the Australian innings, Zimbabwe bowlers gave little away. The spinners Utseya and Price bowled miserly in tandem, while Mpofu showed that pronouncing his name is not the difficult part at offer.
Mpofu had 2 wickets at a Value for Money Index (VMI) of 1.3 while Utseya had 81 with a VMI of 1.0.
Flop of the Day
I trusted Ponting’s words to play a longer innings would have had some effect on Haddin, but he frustrated with an innings of 28 from 66 balls, which meant he got negative points. Thankfully his dismissals behind the wicket brought him out of the red zone. He could only muster a dismal 19 points at a VMI of 0.2.
Even Ponting with just 28 points was a bit of let down.
Par Performer of the Day
Michael Clarke has been in good touch lately, during the last matches of the series against England and the warm up matches. He justified his selection by scoring a quick fire 50 to take his side of trouble. He fetched 88 points at a VMI of 0.9.
The Big League – Top 5 (PIN: 7034)
| Manager | Team Name | Total | Transfers | |
| 1 | devasheesh mathur | the diplomats | 2208 | 37 |
| 2 | Rohith Kantheti | Invincibles | 2114 | 34 |
| 3 | Jyotishman Nag | Jyo’s XI | 2090 | 31 |
| 4 | Sumit Ahlawat | diljaley | 2051 | 36 |
| 5 | Vinay Sharma | SLIndBang ! | 2016 | 38 |
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Value for Money Players – Top 5
| Name | Country | Price | Total | VMI |
| SR Watson | AUS | 105000 | 260 | 2.5 |
| MG Johnson | AUS | 90000 | 189 | 2.1 |
| SW Tait | AUS | 85000 | 111 | 1.3 |
| JJ Krejza | AUS | 80000 | 105 | 1.3 |
| CB Mpofu | ZIM | 75000 | 97 | 1.3 |
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