While the IPL is being played on ground, there are multiple parallel games that are played by fans every evening. Fantasy cricket continues to spread far and wide and is now a hugely successful business proposition in India.
While some still consider it as bordering on gambling, for cricket fans at least it is an opportunity to more actively engage with the ongoing IPL.
A disclaimer to start with- I have enjoyed playing fantasy cricket and continue to do so. In fact, it wouldn’t be wrong to say fantasy sport or rather the investment in fantasy sport has even helped me know more about certain aspects of the sport that I wouldn’t have normally invested in earlier. Associate nations’ women’s cricket is a prime example. In normal circumstances I wouldn’t really watch a Papua New Guinea or a Thailand trying to qualify for the ICC Women’s World Cup. While playing fantasy cricket I do. And by doing so I have unearthed special stories that have left me in awe. The Thailand women’s teams’ journey was one such.
First, let me make a very basic point. I don’t play fantasy cricket for money. And I am sure there are many like me who play fantasy for the love of the sport and from the standpoint of fan passion. If your fantasy captain wins the player of the match award, it leaves you with a sense of satisfaction. That you got it right and that you understand the sport well.
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Success in fantasy sport, I will argue, is based largely on research and knowledge. In fact, it also adds to existing corpus of knowledge and helps in a better understanding of the sport. While many have now started to follow women’s cricket in India, and will do so going forward, not many follow international women’s cricket as closely as they do the men’s game. This is where it starts to get interesting. In a match between India and Australia for example, you need to know the Australian team as well to make the right calls in fantasy cricket. Will a potential fantasy player opt for Meg Lanning, the Australian skipper, or can young Shafali Varma be a better option? Unless someone knows the strengths and weakness of the Australian team as well as he or she does for India, it is impossible to win a fantasy contest. Just like the players playing on the field do their research on the opponents and there are notes on every player they are likely to come up against, fantasy players maintain records of all players playing in a particular contest and their past performances against the team they are up against. Emotion or nationalism has little role in this and picking a India heavy team against Australia in T20 women’s cricket may well end up to be counterproductive.
The other aspect I wish to draw attention to and something that plays a key role in impacting outcome in fantasy cricket is knowledge of team strategy. For example, Elyse Perry, one of the best players in the women’s game in the world, batted at number 7 for Australia on many occasions in the recent past in T-20 cricket. The argument was Perry was not scoring as quickly as the team would have liked and had she batted at the top of the order, there was a chance the opposition would be able to keep the Australian scoring rate under check. As a result on many occasions Perry hardly got a chance to bat. In the WBBL, however, Perry opened the innings and scored at a fast clip amassing a lot of fantasy points. While she was of limited value to teams in the World Cup and could be left out if need be, in the WBBL Perry would inevitably be the first name on the fantasy team sheet.
So while the debate on fantasy sport is ongoing and will be so at in the foreseeable future, suffice to say, there is a lot to it that meets the eye. Beyond the big bucks and the glamour, it is also about the little joys. The fan passion and the pleasure in getting things right. When your favorite batter scores a ton or your favorite bowler picks a five for, there is a sense of real joy that we all experience. No monies can match that and that element to fantasy sport is also something that we need to always take into account and talk about.