A guide to excel in fantasy cricket league

George Bernard Shaw once famously exclaimed, referring to this gentlemanly game that, ‘This is game played by 11 fools and watched by 11000 fools’. It certainly rings true in the Indian subcontinent, where even an inconsequential match still brings life to a standstill for 3, 6 or 80 hours, depending on which format you’re watching. And even more so in India itself, where we manage to revere our sport ‘heroes’ even when they’ve been thrashed by the English, pulverized by the men down under and finally emasculated by the pithy Bangladeshi tea.

The craze for this gentlemanly game has expanded itself by taking a widespread virtual platform. This cybernetic game has attracted people of all age groups. Many websites that deal with this computer-generated version of the gentleman’s game have been developed. If you are an amateur in this game, there are some basics that you should know before you begin your journey into the world of fantasy cricket league. This game is a religion in India, it is considered to be the game of the Gods, and here are some fundamentals you need to know.

Firstly, you should comprehend the condition of the pitch. Pick a batsman or bowler who is known to excel on the pitch conditions of the match. The best way to do this is to go back to the last series or tournament and see how the players performed. Every series or tournament has a Stats page that keeps a record of the player’s past performances. This enables you to understand a trend in the performance of the player and thus, helps you choose a good player for your team. This understanding helps you to perform well in the live fantasy cricket matches, which in turn increases your points and escalates your chances of winning.

Another tip to keep in mind while picking players for your team is to know which player is performing well in what category and pick the players based on those performances. Another sound strategy is to not pick the openers, since they get out early usually, and pick the middle order batsmen who almost always arrive to steady the innings.  This increases your chances to win points at the fantasy cricket league.  The openers on many conditions are a guess on whether they’ll hit it big but usually get out early. So picking a middle order batsman is a safer option.

This virtual game is as much about management as it is about cricket. Actually, it is a competition of resource optimization. Your team has to be a mix of first-choice stars, good value players and bargain buys. While making those choices, you may want to give more preference to players who have been in good form. Another factor that contributes to a win in a game of live fantasy cricket is to emphasize on other factors such as the chances of a player performing on a certain type of wicket or against a certain opponent. Here’s where your cricketing savvy comes in, as statistics and mathematics cannot help you with that.