The slow beginner's guide to fantasy cricket — read this once, refer back often.

Fantasy cricket can look intimidating from outside: long terms, many platforms, varied rules. Once you've understood the basic shape — eleven players, salary cap, captain multiplier, points reference — the rest falls into place. The basics start below, written for someone who's never built an XI.

What fantasy cricket is.

Fantasy cricket is a fan-led game in which you build a virtual team of eleven real cricketers, drawn from a squad pool of around 200 across the IPL franchises. Your XI scores fantasy points based on what those cricketers do in a real-life match. Different platforms use different rules; the broad shape is the same.

The skill is selection — picking the players whose real-life performance is most likely to convert into fantasy points. The variance is high; over a single match anything can happen; over a season the disciplined contestant comes out ahead.

Format in 60 seconds.

1. Eleven slots — pick eleven players from the squad pool.
2. 100-credit salary cap — your XI total must fit within the cap.
3. One captain — whose points are doubled.
4. One vice-captain — whose points are multiplied by 1.5.
5. Role limits — at least 3 batters, 1 wicketkeeper (up to 4), and no more than 7 players from one franchise.
6. Locks at the deadline — usually the toss. After the deadline, your XI is locked.

The points reference in plain English.

Every action in a cricket match corresponds to fantasy points:

• Runs scored → 1 point per run, with bonuses for boundaries (4), sixes (6), milestones (50, 100), and strike-rate thresholds (170+ strike rate earns a 6-point bonus).
• Wickets taken → 25 points per wicket, with bonuses for bowled or LBW dismissals (+8) and economy thresholds (under 5 earns a 6-point bonus).
• Catches and stumpings → 8 points per catch, 12 per stumping, with cascade bonuses when the side takes multiple dismissals in one over.
• Captain multiplier → 2x on the captain's total. Vice-captain is 1.5x.

Read the desk's points reference for the full version. Save the page; refer back when you draft a new XI.

Your first XI.

Build your first XI in five steps:

1. Anchor the top-order. Pick two batters who'll bat in the powerplay. These are your floor — they're your guarantee that the XI scores points even if the differentials fail.
2. Choose three all-rounders. All-rounders carry batting, bowling, and fielding points in one slot. The leverage slot in the XI.
3. Pick three bowlers. One pace-death specialist (the death overs are the highest-points phase for bowlers), one spin-bowler (the middle overs), one powerplay wicket-taker.
4. Pick a wicket-keeper who bats. The keeper returns points for catches and stumpings; one who bats top-six adds batting points.
5. Cap a differential with budget left. Spend the savings — leave 4–6 credits unspent at the end. Concentrate on a single captain differential pick rather than spreading budget thin.

The captain pick.

The captain's points are doubled. The captain pick is the highest-impact decision in your XI. Three captain-pick frameworks:

• Anchor captain — most predictable points, lowest variance. Use in small leagues.
• Match-up captain — best head-to-head against this specific opposition. Use when the match-up is unusually strong.
• Differential captain — highest ceiling in the player pool, owned by fewer contestants. Use only in mega contests.

Default to anchor. Switch to match-up on strong signals. Switch to differential only in mega contests. Three frameworks, clear rules.

Contest types.

The desk's contest types lane explains each format in detail. The beginner's quick summary:

• Practice contests — free, learn the platform. Use these for your first five contests.
• Small leagues — top-half cashes. Reward precision, not ceiling. Use your anchor captain pick.
• Mega contests — top-0.1% cashes. Reward ceiling. Use your differential captain pick, multi-entry with 3–5 line-ups.
• Head-to-heads — binary outcome. Reward ceiling against one opponent.

Start with practice. Move to small leagues. Reserve mega contests until you've built intuition for how points accrue.

Bankroll discipline.

Real-money fantasy is for adults only. Treat it as entertainment with arithmetic on top. Three rules from the desk:

1. 5% rule — never commit more than 5% of your weekly budget to a single match-day's contests.
2. 60-minute rule — limit participation to 60 minutes per match-day. Beyond that, you're fiddling, not improving.
3. 14-week rule — pre-commit your season-long budget. Don't extend mid-season.

Set a deposit cap in the app. Verify your state permits real-money play. Pause if you feel the urge to chase losses.

Responsible play.

Fantasy cricket can be fun. It can also be harmful if it stops being voluntary. If participation is causing financial stress, relationship stress, or a sense of "I have to win this back" — pause and reach out. India-based support resources include:

• iCall (Mumbai-based, English/Hindi) — counselling helpline.
• Sangath (Goa) — mental-health support with gambling-harm expertise.
• NIMHANS Helpline (Bangalore) — behavioural addiction support.

Further reading.

The desk's how-to-play lane covers the format basics in more detail, and the legality brief walks through age, state, and KYC requirements.