Punting + Draftstars preview: Australia v India

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Draftstars is back for the cricket season and with it comes the chance to back your fantasy knowledge to win some cash.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, you can enter competitions for each game for as little as 50c and win major jackpots.

Let’s see if we can get the summer of cricket off to a winning start with the first one-day international between Australia and India at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Please note we take our punting odds from Bet365 who we deem to provide the best value, along with the advantage of streaming over 200,000 live sporting events each year.

All selections are subject to change upon naming of final teams.

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PUNTING PLAYS

• David Warner over 0.5 sixes @2.37
• Pat Cummins over 1.5 wickets @2.10
• Jasprit Bumrah over 1.5 wickets @2

ROUGHIE

• Marnus Labuschagne top run scorer (Australia) @6

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DRAFTSTARS PREVIEW

GUNS

Virat Kohli

At over $20k you’re paying a bomb for King Kohli, but when you’re averaging a shade under 60 in ODIs you’re not exactly going to come cheap.

He didn’t actually flourish in the long form of the game in his last outing to Australia (by his immense standards), but you’d be a brave man not to expect him to flourish in his shortened tour this time around.

STARS TO AVOID

Steve Smith

If you really want to fork out for both Smith and Kohli I can’t argue, although it will leave you very short on cash for the remainder of your squad.

But plenty of players will add both men, and to win Draftstars contests you need some sort of differential, so I’ll take a punt on Smith going low and hope it pays off.

He did struggle in the IPL, again by his lofty standards, so perhaps he needs a tick over innings back on home soil to find his groove.

On the flip side, you could pick Smith and avoid Kohli.

VALUE

Shikhar Dhawan

Dhawan is priced at $12,700 and is coming off a stunning IPL campaign where he recorded back-to-back unbeaten centuries, freakish…

The veteran is based in Australia so he’ll have been doing plenty of training on our decks which can only help his case.

Marnus Labuschagne

Labuschange is priced at $12,900 which looks exceptional value for a guy in his form over the past 18 months.

He’ll likely bat at five which is a concern, but if early wickets fall he may well come in at four ahead of Marcus Stoinis and play the anchor role for the Australians behind explosive openers Finch and Warner.

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