With only a little time left for the thirteenth edition of Indian Premier League (IPL), cricket fans all around the world have started to get excited for what is perhaps the biggest annual cricketing festival. But as fantasy cricket has started to provide fans with intimate participation in the games in recent years, a huge portion of the ongoing excitement can be attributed to the IPL fantasy leagues. IPL Fantasy League is where both cricketing pundits and faithful fans come up with their own IPL prediction and find themselves to be a part of the ongoing action.
IPL Fantasy League is actually a virtual game. In this game the participants create their own teams with the help of virtual currency. The real life players of different IPL teams are assigned with a virtual value and the goal is to create a team out of these players. Obviously there are restrictions such as the limit of foreign players featuring in a team and the compulsion of an uncapped Indian cricketer to be a part of the team.
The teams are allowed a certain number of changes over the course of the tournament. The virtual participants accumulate points based on the performance of players featuring in their team. This includes all aspects of the game such as scoring runs, taking wickets, holding catches, maintaining high strike rate, low economy rate, forcing run-outs etc. At the end of the tournament, the participants have a real chance to win real prizes or money based on their cumulative scores over the course of the season.
To play IPL fantasy, you need to register with the official fantasy page. It is free and easy to sign up. After which you can choose your username and a team name and you are all set.
The basic format is, just like the IPL auctions where you are given a budget limit of 100 cr. Each player is assigned a value which would be deducted from your total budget if you choose to add that player to your team. The game has restrictions for adding players to your team which are known as IPL Fantasy rules.
Before the commencement of the tournament, you are allowed unlimited changes to your team. But after the first game, there are only a limited number of free changes and anything beyond that is going to cost you additional points.
There are also Daily and Weekly challenges to make your experience more fun.
Just like any other fantasy tournament, IPL Fantasy also has certain rules. Teams built by the users have to meet the following requirements.
Before each round's deadline, the users are allowed to make up to five free trades. Any additional trades are counted as "Premium Trades" which incur a cost of 10 points each.
All players earn the participants 2 points each just for making it to the playing eleven of their individual teams.
While Batting, players receive:
While Bowling, players receive:
While Fielding, players receive:
Apart from this, the captain nominated by the participant before each round receives 2x points and the vice-captain receives 1.5x points.
You can play IPL fantasy at the official fantasy league page created by IPL. To navigate to the page you can simply search 'IPL Fantasy' on your search engine or simply go to - https://fantasy.iplt20.com/tournaments/
The Fantasy league portal usually opens 7-10 days prior to the commencement of the tournament and remains so throughout the season.
Now, while IPL Fantasy is a virtual game meant for entertainment purposes, it can actually land you several prizes such as season tickets and merchandise if you are consistent and on the top of the leader-board. So, it's always useful to have some fantasy tips and tricks up your sleeves.
As the number of changes available are limited, you might want to have a strong core team. To build one you have to look at the current ongoing form of players and also the probability of them featuring in every game. For example, the captains and vice-captains of all the teams are most likely to feature in each of their team's games.
Although overseas players play an important role, there is a limited number of them featuring in a match. This reduces the odds in their favor of performing well in the fantasy league as well. But it's seen that the team with a better Indian contingent has better chances. And, so you must try and build a very strong Indian contingent for your team.
You can only select four overseas players to feature in your fantasy team. And hence, you must choose them wisely. The overseas players you select must be in the top form and must have performed in their recent games. This is because if they are unable to perform, it is most likely they will be dropped in the next match and cost you a valuable change.
Also see - IPL Stats
Look at it from the perspective of earning points. An all-rounder is most likely to both bat and bowl. Thus he can actually earn you more points. Thus you must utilize them and add all three allowed all-rounders to solidify your team.
According to IPL fantasy rules, each team must feature one uncapped player at least. An uncapped player is an Indian cricketer who hasn't played international cricket for India in any format. The points that these players cost you are minimal when compared to the big guns. But they can be explosive and become a cheap bargain. If you follow domestic cricket, you might be able to pick out the best ones for your own fantasy team.
A. The winner of the IPL Fantasy 2019 was ARJUN18886VW with 6148.25 points.
A. The 2019 winner of IPL Fantasy received autographed memorabilia, IPL final toss coin, Vivo smartphone and ₹30,000 worth Big Bazaar Vouchers.
A. The runner-up of IPL Fantasy 2019 got a Vivo smartphone.
