We’re in the middle of another exciting Indian T20 league season, and no matter which fantasy cricket app you use, there are dozens of contests to keep you engaged every day. Howzat has been one of the most popular and trusted apps for years now, with over 2 crore users, and it offers a wealth of options for everyone – from newcomers to fantasy cricket experts. Here we take a look at a few tips that can help you improve your fantasy cricket game and score the biggest prizes.
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Do your background research
You don’t need to be a cricket expert to win a fantasy cricket league contest. But having said that, if you think you can just randomly pick XI names and win, that isn’t happening either. Some degree of preparation is essential if the side you select is going to be successful.
Apps like Howzat offer a wealth of pre-tournament and pre-match information in the shape of player profiles, match predictions and informational blog posts. These will usually mention a player’s previous record in the competition, how two teams have fared against each other in the past, and also which players are likely to do well against a certain opponent.
On the Howzat app, when you’re selecting your XI, it shows you what percentage of your fellow contestants have chosen a certain player and also how many fantasy points they’ve scored so far in the tournament. You can, and should, think out of the box at times, but these are useful guidelines to follow.
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Get your team balance right
There are a couple of things you should always remember while playing any fantasy cricket contest based on the Indian T20 League. First of all, in no other mainstream sport is the result as dependent on playing conditions – both weather and pitch – as it is in cricket. The team you pick is directly influenced by the state of the pitch and the weather. Hot weather and a dry pitch usually favor batters and spin bowlers. A grassy pitch and cloudy weather tends to mean that pace and swing bowlers will dominate. In a T20 contest on a batter-friendly pitch, all-rounders may not have much of a role to play. But when batting is difficult, all-rounders can come into play with both bat and ball.
You’re also not restricted by the selection constraints that actual cricket teams have. To begin with, you can pick players from both teams playing the match. If one has a weak bowling unit, you can make sure most of the bowlers you select are from the other. On Howzat, you just need to select a minimum of 1 wicketkeeper, one batter, 1 all-rounder and 1 bowler. There is nothing stopping you going into a contest with 5 all-rounders or 6 bowlers, if you feel that’s what gives you the best chance of scoring points. Such a line-up may be unheard of for a real cricket team, but you have that creative license when it comes to choosing your fantasy side.
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Choose your captain smartly
Days and weeks of thought usually go into the choice of a cricket team captain. Selectors consider a whole host of factors before giving someone the job. These include seniority and experience, career record and consistency, and player-management skills. Once chosen, an individual might keep the job for decades. For example, M.S. Dhoni is still leading the Chennai team 14 years after he first took up the responsibility. V. Kohli led the Bangalore side for nearly a decade, and R. Sharma has been in charge of the Mumbai team for nearly as long.
Choosing a captain for your fantasy cricket team is a completely different proposition. On an app like Howzat, your captain earns 2x points and the vice captain gets 1.5x points for the same performance as other players. When making your picks, all that you should consider is which players are most likely to score points. It could be a veteran playing his final season or a budding teenager playing in his first Indian T20 League season. As long as you’re convinced that they’ll fetch you the most points, all the other factors that go into choosing a real cricket team captain become irrelevant.
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Pick those who can make a difference
No matter how clever you think you’re being, chances are that your fantasy team will have at least 4 to 5 players in common with most others. For example, during the Indian T20 League in 2022, few fantasy cricket players are going to select a team for a Rajasthan match that doesn’t involve J. Buttler and Y. Chahal. Similarly, the chances are slim that your team for a Lucknow game won’t feature K.L. Rahul.
So how do you win a contest? By making sure that the fringe players you select – usually the last 2 or 3 picks – are those players currently in the best form. The most skilled fantasy cricket players quickly recognize when a lesser-known player is enjoying a purple patch. That was the case with R. Gaikwad, H. Patel and V. Iyer in the 2021 season. Those that selected these players in their XIs ahead of more established names ended up doing far better in most contests. Each season will see such wild cards emerge. The sooner you are able to spot them, the more successful your teams will be.
All the steps you take to select the perfect XI can come unstuck just before the start of a match. The Indian T20 League is a long and exhausting tournament for players. Injuries are common and so is fatigue. There will be matches where key individuals are rested or where they pick up a mild niggle during the warm-up. Teams can also change their composition based on the conditions, leaving out a star spinner or fast bowler if they feel the pitch won’t suit them. You may have selected your XI hours before the start of play, but check the actual playing XIs after the toss – half an hour before the game starts – to make sure that everyone in your fantasy team is actually playing. You don’t want to give your fellow contestants an advantage by going into a contest with just 8 or 9 players.
If you follow these tips, your teams won’t go far wrong. Download the Howzat app, play several practice games and then test your selection skills against those of fantasy players from across the country for fabulous cash prizes. Happy gaming!