The popularity of fantasy games has soared massively since the end of the 20th century. As a result, the number of active players has increased exponentially, and almost every sport has gotten its fantasy counterpart. However, it’s not rare to see people who are still strangers to fantasy sports.
So, let’s begin from the basics- what is a fantasy game, or more specifically, fantasy cricket?
Fantasy games are virtual tournaments of a sport involving virtual replicas of real sports players. Presently, there are fantasy sports counterparts for almost every sport. For example, there’s fantasy football, fantasy cricket, fantasy basketball, fantasy rummy, etc. Managers can play fantasy cricket through any fantasy gaming platform.
For simplicity and to avoid confusion, the term manager will describe someone who takes part in a fantasy sport. In contrast, the term player will tell a professional athlete whose performance the manager keeps tabs on. In fantasy cricket, managers are required to build a team consisting of 11 players. They can choose players, captains, and vice-captains per their wishes. The manager then takes their team to play virtual versions of upcoming matches. Based on the match’s outcome, the managers canplay and earn.
There are many types of cricket tournaments that a manager can enter, such as the IPL T20 and T20 world cup, to name a few. Managers need to know the rules and format of the tournaments they’ve entered. Every match in fantasy cricket is a battle of skills. As a beginner who’s just trying out their hands on fantasy cricket, it’s not expected for you to be familiar with the essential skills required to be put to work in every match. You’ll automatically begin perfecting these skills as you keep playing more tournaments. However, that doesn’t mean you’re always set to failure if you’re a beginner playing against seasoned managers. There are a few essential things that you must keep in mind before entering any fantasy sports tournament.
1. Know about the tournaments and cricket players:
This sounds obvious, but it may be astounding to know how many managers jump in with their favorite players on the team while neglecting the need to do proper research about the players’ performance. In other words, a beginner might have little awareness of the strong and weak points of the players on the team. To have a well-rounded team ready, you must know what players are the best bowlers, pitchers, or all-rounders. It’s integral to know about the strengths and weaknesses of the players you’re choosing. If you’re an ardent cricket fan, this might come to you more quickly than those who don’t watch real cricket matches often. Alternatively, if you don’t like watching cricket matches, you can read articles on cricket that analyze different players’ performance post the tournament.
2. Assess the pitch and weather conditions:
While playing a fantasy cricket match, you must factor in the conditions that may affect an actual cricket match, such as weather conditions, physical injuries of the players, or any other last-minute changes that can affect the trajectory of the match.
3. Be patient:
Patience is a vital skill most fantasy cricket managers lack. While wins can be motivating, they might make you too euphoric that you may deviate from your planned strategy. Conversely, a few losses can make you think negatively of the tournament, and you would likely lose interest in maintaining your game plan.
4. Practice:
Practice as much as you can by playing different matches. It will allow you to learn the strategies that work to win a tournament.