Cricbattle - Redefining fantasy cricket

Pick your team, your way!

Nothing connects cricket aficionados as much as fantasy cricket, apart from the game itself of course. Till Ramesh Srivats and Co.’s TenTenTen took to it in 2013, fantasy cricket remained untapped to a large extent – at least in India – for inexplicable reasons.

However, that did not bring about a sea of change, as they are contracted to do so by the BCCI for just the Indian Premier League and the Champions League T20, which are only two events for a whole year. It has to be said that when BCCI put their minds to it, they do rope in the best. How I wish they do so for more pressing concerns around, too!

You just don’t ever meet the hankering of fantasy lovers. But you can always make sure they remain content. And where are our service providers? Nowhere close to it. They are still in the ages of Duck Hunt. Remember the horse-and-buggy days of video games? But we don’t play Duck Hunt any more, as the industry keeps creating new trends. The last I saw, people were grasping at straws to differentiate between a Batman movie and the PlayStation version of it. Unfortunately, fantasy cricket enthusiasts don’t have any of that trouble.

I for one do not believe that the reason why sites refuse to experiment could be because fantasy cricket does not add much to their benefits. And why should I, if ESPNCricinfo, arguably the most renowned cricket based website in the world, comes forward to offer it on almost every available opportunity? If only they had found the need to innovate, too. Not just them, there are numerous sites that dedicate themselves solely to fantasy cricket, yet they don’t look for ways to improve.

One problem that plagues all the caterers, including ESPNCricinfo, is the lack of a unique concept. It has all along been select 11 players, pick your captain and leave it to the goddess of fortune. This traditional version has lesser variables to account for flawed strategies. The differential has to happen in your captaincy picks. Yes, there are 10 other spots, too, but they divide the bad from the good; but not the good from the better.

In addition to that, no matter how excellent a concept is, it becomes outdated sooner rather than later and gets mundane as a result. Fantasy games are no exception. The only reason people keep returning to play – after a point of time – is because they do not have an alternative and the concept is too tempting to ignore. The novelty had worn off long before.

The more the number of variables, the better it gets. With every added meaningful complexity, the game would get slick and demand more strategising from the users, thereby making it more thought-provoking. This is exactly where TenTenTen’s version brought about the change. The restriction in the number of uncapped players, transfers, and the foreign players added to the users’ headache in the IPL, and hence the number of false moves increased manifold. It helped filter the good from the better, as the former were found wanting.

Ramesh Srivats and Co. stepped up and did it to the maximum possible levels the format permitted. But can fantasy cricket be souped up? Yes, maybe not in the same format but in a different manner. Cricbattle.com blazed the trail in redefining fantasy cricket. Also, I would prefer some prize money as reward over hastily signed apparel, which was what such carefully designed concept was deemed fit by the BCCI for the IPL and CLT20, much to the disappointment of the fans.

Of late, a number of websites have entered into the trade; but instead of being a solution, these sites have opened a can of worms by turning what appeared to be an incredible concept into a cheaper one by offering it on a day-to-day basis. I fear that the day would come when they will make it no good by splitting a match into two: one for each innings. Having said that, I would not really be taken aback if it happens though.

So what makes Cricbattle ‘off-beat’?

The Draft Room – one which decides your fate in the tournament

Inspired by NFL fantasy football and in its infancy now, set up by Rakesh Desai, who is an Indian living in the United States of America, Cribattle has the potential to meet even the loftiest of expectations of fantasy lovers in days to come. Based on draft system, you can handpick the players whom you think would score the highest number of points across a season: say for the IPL, you get to have the player you choose for the entire duration of 50 odd days.

If you manage to grab Virat Kohli, your opponent cannot have him. Likewise, every player gets his turn and it repeats till you complete your squad. The draft order i.e., the sequence by which your turn comes up functions in a way that it makes sure no one gets an unfair advantage: say in the first round if you get your chance first up, in the second you will only be the last in the order.

Unlike the other fantasy sites where the concept of playing in groups hardly matter, in Cricbattle, your clan of six (can extend up to 9 when you play amongst friends) is what matters the most; it is only ideal if you compare yourself with the other five members in the group.

Although the site determines the global winner by comparing all the 6-member leagues, it is not really the best criteria to gauge the ability of a user; it doesn’t account for the inactivity and the skill sets of a user’s challengers in the leagues. Since there is no other fish in the sea except for hoping the users to be active, not much can be said about their way of doing it, too.

Homepage of Cricbattle

However, with the paid leagues being introduced now in conjunction with the already in use free-to-play leagues, an independent leaderboard for the paid leagues, where you could obviously expect higher rates of activity, coupled with a feasible method to arrive at user rankings to distribute them evenly does show us a way in near future.

Regardless of that, it would be the best thing for groups of friends who would want to play together. If you would like to showcase how good you are or settle a personal score over the cricketing differences that have stacked up over a long period of time, Cricbattle is your practical solution. Invite your opponents over and show them who is the boss, fair and square. Cricbattle would be all up for it, for it loves to crown champions.

Say if your 13-member squad reads – Virat Kohli, Aaron Finch, Shikhar Dhawan, Glenn Maxwell, Thisara Perera, Sanju Samson, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Sunil Narine, Mohammed Shami, Iqbal Abdulla, Stuart Binny, Sandeep Singh – your remaining five rivals in the group will not have the services of any of them from the start to the finish unless you transfer them out.

The point at issue here is, what would you do if any of them gets injured? For example, let the tournament in consideration be the IPL. Since there are 8 teams in total, even if you take only the playing 11 into consideration, there will be 88 players in the fray. As, in Cricbattle, only 6 teams compete against each other (6*13 = 78), a minimum of 10 first class players will be remaining in the transfer pool once you complete the draft. This is apart from all the other players who make up the minimum squad limit for the franchises. You will be allotted a set of transfers that you can make use of in a season. So at no point will you be left with players whom you can’t replace.

Also, there arises a situation wherein the users who lag behind will take risks by transferring out certain players, whom you can make use of by snatching them from the transfer pool.

How does it score over its competitors?

It is only possible to pick a team that delivers at full length if you know the game in and out, as simple as that. When it comes to the traditional version, you will often be let down by the captaincy selections: when you pick someone as captain, he will either get run out or hard done by, or used so poorly by captains who behave like a babe in the woods when it comes to managing teams. And when it happens in a day that Gayle scores 170 odd runs in a single T20 match, you end up chasing leather for a greater part of the competition, as everyone else would have had him. But only one owns him in here, and it is only him who can go ahead.

Also, chances are that your unique set of players can combine to do it consistently and get you back on track. It is primarily consistency vs. special performances. And you know, over a period of time, consistency gets the better of these extraordinary feats; hence you have to strategise accordingly.

Cricbattle is all set for the 2014 World Cup T20

So where should cricbattle work on? There are a few features that the core users have requested for, like making the transfers smooth or adding the budget quotient to the draft system. I am only listing what has not been asked for or being ignored due to difference in opinions.

Automatic substitutions

This is something that needs to be considered. Not many cricket fantasy sites have this facility. So it is the time for Cricbattle to get one-up on them. I have seen a number of players who stop midway through the tournament after not being able to oversee the last minute changes consistently.

Not many can hang around their system by the toss time. If I am not able to make a switch for none of my mistakes, I lose points; therefore, I lose interest, too. I would not be too involved in continuing with the game knowing that I am in anyway disadvantaged. The natural tendency would be to most likely drop out in such scenarios.

Combine formats

Cricbattle works and works extremely well for tournaments that have more number of teams. With IPL and CLT20 being held every year now and with WCT20 every two years, they must be grateful that they have stepped in at the right time. But it is too difficult to resist the temptation to not play for the remainder of the year.

What could be done? They should consider merging tournaments that fall not just in the same format, which they have introduced of late as ‘World Test Championship (4 different series in 1)’, but across formats, too. Ways need to be found to enable a user play with a 11-member team, for that is where the excitement lies. This idea was put forward by one of the users, but has been shelved. Diluting the game may lead to people coming in for a series and not finding it as exciting as they should, only to quit.

Transfer system

The winner cannot and should not be determined by how active he is; it should be by how capable he is. Else, it contradicts its own motive: the real examination of a user’s abilities. You cannot just take in 25 players and throw them out, testing your luck by shuffling around, so the transfer system needs a look in. The team that gets assembled at the forefront must have a major say in the results that transpire; not the number of transfers that happen after the squad selection.

I envision Cricbattle reaching the heights when the budget factor comes in while drafting the players. While it is already a challenging task to pick your squad, it would be even more testing if the budget quotient is added, too. It then will make Cricbattle as close to auctions as it can be in a fantasy world. Oh, and lets not forget, the game only begins after the auctions.