POD Hunter: Round 10, unique players to find an edge

If you’re chasing ground in the overall standings, need a leg up in your head-to-head league, or perhaps like to live on the edge with your SuperCoach selections, you’ll be sure to want to hunt point of difference (POD) players for your side.

Each week we’ll run through a list of potential candidates that fit the bill, owned by under 10% of SuperCoaches at the time of writing that can help us claw up the rankings at a rapid rate.

Also, pay attention to any fixture changes given the current environment the BBL is taking place in. 

Double round players can change unexpectedly and perhaps some single round options may be more appealing, although there is a chance that single game PODs may have games postponed and have no games over a given round. 

I’d like to take this opportunity to give some kudos to BBL organisers, players, staff and the Supercoach Team for their flexibility and their endeavour to keep everything rolling for us fans.

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DOUBLE ROUND POD

Sandeep Lamichhane – 9.6% ownership

Sandeep was someone who I bought into my side for the earlier Hurricanes double. 

He was available for under $100,000 and whilst he has risen in price he is still very attainable at just a titch over $110,000 for the Hurricanes double. 

As an owner I was watching him very closely over the double and thought that he was not bowling his best and was bowling more boundary bowls than he should. 

That being said, he did pick up some wickets during an average Renegades chase in order to register 98 points. 

In more promising signs he saved his best for the last match where he scored 63 points in a single game week against Adelaide. 

Hobart are missing some troops for a variety of reasons and they will need him to be near his best during their double game week.

Alex Ross – 6.9% ownership

Whilst we will miss his antics taking over the Thunder twitter account (go check it out if you haven’t seen it), it will be great to see him back on deck for the Thunder. 

Not normally a player that I would consider, but, he will take over the number four role from Billings and the fact he showed something in a couple of digs earlier in the tournament means he will come under some consideration for the Thunder double.

Two scores of over 100 in the first three Thunder games shows he is in form this tournament. 

Other scores of 27, 4, 16 and 6 demonstrate that the role of a middle order batter or indeed a batter in general can mean some low scores are on the cards.

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Chris Green – 7.2% ownership

Green is probably not the most exciting pick for many owners. He is unlikely to take a bag of wickets and is unlikely to produce a dazzling cameo with the bat, however, he feels like a very safe selection that can chip away over the course of a double game week. 

Rarely does he flight the ball and look for wickets, instead he does an economical job for the Thunder and it is a job he does very well as evidenced by his economy rate of 6.85 this tournament. 

When delving into his statistics and scores, he does score better than anticipated. Scores of 52, 73, 49 and 61 in four of his past five matches are very reasonable. 

In fact his five round average of 51.4 is very healthy. Whilst unlikely to go massive, he does have four scores over 100 throughout his BBL career. 

He’s a safe option to generate points and perhaps more than most would expect.

Gurinder Sandhu – 5.4% ownership

Sandhu will be on everyone’s’ radar after a mammoth performance last round against the Scorchers.

Whilst owners do not want to chase points, what that performance on the Gold Coast deck does do is that it should guarantee some job security for Sandhu in the eleven. 

Bowling a traditional length with variations suited that pitch magnificently and Sandhu scored 113 points.

This combined with the 75 points he scored in Round 1 shows that he does possess point scoring potential. 

It is worth nothing that three matches in between he did score under 20 points combined so that is something prospective owners need to be aware of. 

One of the Thunder matches in the double that is scheduled (at this stage!) is at Marvel Stadium and there has been times where how he bowls would be very suited to a pitch like Marvel.

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Mohammad Husnain – 4.7% ownership

Mills and Mahmood already were sensational on their BBL debuts, but Husnain took it to another level in his first match. 

A triple wicket maiden in his first BBL over if you don’t mind! 

He looks like the direct replacement for Mahmood and this means he will bowl some key overs all throughout the 20 overs.

A bit like Mahmood too, I think that he will not better the figures from his first match for the tournament, however, he looks an obvious trade in for the Thunder double game round with a negative breakeven.

Tanveer Sangha – 4.4% ownership

Tanveer is somebody who I have mentioned in these articles before and at current levels of ownership, he is a player I am keen to have in my side for the Thunder’s double game week. 

He has missed matches with COVID protocols and before that had two very average games where he scored just 9 points in total. 

These 2 games were against the best teams (Scorchers and Sixers) and during the first four games against other opponents he averaged 62.5 points including very decent scores of 88 and 81. 

In his first year of BBL action last year he also had some large scores including a mega 141 points. 

Further, the Thunder have a decent batting line up and he could be bowling to a large total which helps him too.

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Nathan McAndrew -2.3% ownership

As I mentioned on the latest episode of the SC Playbook Podcast, if you are looking for a sneaky, sneaky option to trade in for this round, McAndrew is probably your player. 

The Thunder have used him in death and surge time previously, however, he does look like option number three behind Husnain and Sams at the moment. 

His job security is far from guaranteed either with Husnain and Sangha needing to return to the Thunder. 

He does have some reasonable scores over the past couple of years such as a 91 earlier this tournament and scores of 70, 75 and 94 achieved last year.

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SINGLE ROUND POD

Shaun Marsh – 4.3% ownership

It is great to watch a quality player go about his business and the Renegades batting line up has looked a whole lot better with both Finch and Marsh returning. 

Marsh has only played two matches but perhaps has looked their best batter despite limited preparation before returning to the line up. 

He values his wicket and is unlikely to get out to a reckless shot. He can accelerate during his innings after he gets his eye in too and clear the boundary when needed. 

The Renegades do have a double on the horizon too which is worth considering. 

Scores of 46 and 92 to start is impressive and his price will continue to rise. He has gone big (over 100) many times in his career to, which is something to consider, especially if considering a single round POD option for your team.