T20 World Cup 2024 Fantasy Cricket: Strategies For Your Squad

The Super 8 stage of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 is set to commence from Wednesday. India, the US, Australia, England, Afghanistan, West Indies, South Africa, and Bangladesh are the eight teams who have qualified for the tournament's next phase.

Teams will play three matches each during the Super 8 phase, with the top two sides in each group qualifying for the semi-final stage of the event.

In fantasy cricket, one can pick and manage the team for the tournament. Points will be awarded based on real-life performances of the player chosen by persons playing the fantasy league. One has a budget of 100 dollars to make a team.

The Indian Fantasy Sports Industry has experienced significant growth over the past few years. Over a span of five years, the industry footprint has grown to become the largest in the world.

The fantasy sports industry has been showing healthy growth, with India being the fastest-growing market with the largest user base at 13 crore, which is further expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 32% in the coming years, according to the report by Deloitte.

The growth in the Indian FS industry is expected to be driven by advancing sporting infrastructure and the popularity of sporting leagues across the country.

Having several top players in the team is always beneficial as chances of them performing is high, resulting in better possibility of increasing the score in a fantasy game.

Indian captain Rohit Sharma and opener Virat Kohli are the most expensive players in the batter category of the fantasy game, costing 10.5 dollars each. Jasprit Bumrah is the most expensive player in the bowler’s category. As of Tuesday evening, an impressive 59% of fantasy cricket enthusiasts have selected Bumrah in their teams.

In the wicket-keeper category, South Africa’s Henrich Klassen commands a premium, while Australian Glen Maxwell holds sway among all-rounders.

West Indies' Nicolas Pooran and Afghanistan leg spinner Rashid Khan command a price tag of 10 dollars each. Australia's Travis Head and David Warner are the openers who are priced the most at 9.5 dollars each, as well as Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya.

England captain Jos Buttler and South Africa’s David Miller are coming with price tags of 9 dollars each. West Indies' Andre Russell will cost 8.5 dollars each.

Tapping into the relatively unknown players can be a good choice as they can cost comparatively less but give results in high success rate.

England middle-order batter Harry Brook can prove to be a great pick as he costs just 7.5 dollars in the fantasy game. Indian fast bowler Arshdeep Singh has already started to make his mark in this T20 World Cup.

And so are the likes leading wicket taker from Afghanistan, Fazalhaq Farooqi, and US fast bowler Saurabh Netravalkar who are coming at a cost of 7 dollars and 6 dollars, respectively, in the fantasy game.

Having a mix of top players and those who cost less can be the best strategy in any fantasy game, as picking such a team is relatively easier to do within the budget.

Having players like Kohli, Sharma and Buttler in the team can be balanced with the likes of Farooqi and middle order batsman Brook, who cost just 7 dollars and 7.5 dollars.

The winner of the first prize will receive a trip to a major ICC event final with premium seating, luxury travel and exclusive ICC merchandise.

For every run scored by a batter, a single point will be awarded, followed by a bonus of 1 point for scoring a boundary and two bonus points for every time a batter hits a six. There are four bonus points for scoring 30 runs in a match, eight bonus points for scoring a half-century and 16 bonus points for scoring a century in a match.

Every wicket taken by the bowler will be awarded 25 points. There is a bonus of eight points if the wicket is an LBW or bowled. There are 12 bonus points if a bowler bowls a maiden over, among others.