How to Play IPL Fantasy League Cricket in 2025

There are two types of fantasy cricket contests during the IPL season:

• Daily Fantasy Contests: Pick a team for a single match at a time. Rewards are announced at the end of the match. This is the most popular format played during IPL, and it’s what we’ll be focusing on.
• Season-Long Fantasy: Manage a squad for the entire IPL season, with long-term strategy, transfers, and league tables. Rewards are announced at the end of the season.

If you’re looking to consistently build strong teams for each match in IPL 2025, this guide is just the right one for you. So let’s get started without delay.

Getting Started with Fantasy Cricket During IPL

Before we start, let’s get one thing clear. Fantasy cricket isn’t just about picking your favorite players—it’s about strategy, analysis, and making informed decisions that maximise your chances of winning.

Fantasy cricket is a competition, and a pretty fierce one at that. So, you’ll need to be able to outwit your competitors to be able to stand a chance of winning consistently. We’ll talk more about this later.

But first, you need to choose a good fantasy cricket platform to get started. Here are five of the most popular ones:

• Dream11: India's largest fantasy cricket platform, with over 200m users and the largest contests.
• My11Circle: Popular for its unique challenges and leaderboard competitions.
• MyTeam11: Offers different contest formats and more flexibility in player selection.
• Vision11: A rising platform with exciting payout structures and smaller leagues with higher entry fees.
• Howzat: An upcoming fantasy cricket platform with less competitive contests but also smaller prize pools. The app features cricket legends as brand ambassadors.

Also Read: Dream11 vs My11Circle

Getting started on any fantasy cricket platform is quite simple. Here’s a quick overview:

1. Download your preferred fantasy cricket app and sign up using your mobile number or email.
2. Complete your KYC on the app
3. Select the match for which you want to play a contest.
4. Build your dream team
5. Explore the various contests on the dashboard of your chosen app. You’ll find contests of all types listed here: free, small, and mega contests.
6. Submit your dream team for the contest, pay the entry fees (if applicable) and you’re ready!

IPL Fantasy League 2025 Rules and Points System

Before you start picking your fantasy cricket dream team, it’s crucial to understand how the game actually works. Knowing the rules and the points system can mean the difference between finishing near the top of the leaderboard or wondering why your team isn’t scoring as expected.

Here’s everything you need to know about team composition and how points are awarded in fantasy cricket during IPL 2025.

Team Composition

Here are the basic rules that most fantasy platforms follow:

• Your team must have 11 players.
• A maximum of 10 players can be picked from 1 IPL team (this varies between platforms).
• You must choose between 1-8 players from each of four player types:
  
  • Batters
  • Bowlers
  • All-Rounders
  • Wicketkeepers

Sounds simple enough right? Not quite, though.

While conventional cricket team composition emphasises balanced selection, fantasy cricket requires a fundamentally different approach. The primary objective is to maximise point accumulation rather than maintain traditional team equilibrium. This distinction is crucial for success in fantasy formats. Picking balanced teams may not always be a strategy for success. For example in a low-scoring contest, picking a high number of bowlers relative to batters will result in higher scores.

Points Allocation in T20 Fantasy Cricket

Every run, wicket, and catch in a real IPL match translates into potential fantasy points for your team based on the selections you have made.

Here’s a breakdown of how Dream11, the most popular platform allocates points:

Batting Points

Bowling Points

Fielding Points

‍
For more details, you can read our guide on points system in fantasy cricket.

Captain and Vice-Captain Multipliers

Your Captain earns 2x the points and your Vice-Captain earns 1.5x the points. Picking the right Captain and Vice-Captain can single-handedly decide whether you win or lose.

Strategies for Building a Winning Team in IPL Fantasy League Contests

Success in IPL fantasy league contests requires systematic analysis and strategic player selection. It is a game of skill where better decisions can improve your chance of better outcomes. Implementation of data-driven decision-making processes, combined with comprehensive match analysis, provides competitive advantages.

Reputation-based selection can prove suboptimal in fantasy cricket formats. It can result in over-reliance on familiar players who may not be in the best form, and mean you miss out on selecting lesser-known players who may be better strategic picks for your team.

To help decide who to pick, consider focussing on the following areas when researching your teams:

• Performance metrics: Balancing a player’s longer-term performance quality with their short-term form to identify players who are likely to perform in the upcoming match
• Expected pitch conditions: A bowler who dominated in seaming conditions last week might perform less well on a flat pitch. Consider the venue, pitch, and weather.
• Playing XI updates: Research which players are expected to play in the next game - just because a player appeared in the lineup yesterday it is not guaranteed they play the next match. Likewise, there could be players who missed the last game through injury for strategic reasons who could come back into the team.

Pro Tip: Use 11Wizards, a fantasy cricket prediction app, to analyse all these factors and help you build your lineups using detailed player research and predictive analytics

Captain and Vice-Captain Choices

Picking the right Captain (2x points) and Vice-Captain (1.5x points) is the single most important decision in fantasy cricket.

How to Pick the Best Captain/Vice-Captain:

• Popularity amongst other fantasy players: Picking a captain who is widely selected by others can be a safe strategy, but likely results in your team performing very similar to many others. By contrast, if you are looking to differentiate your team's performance, a riskier strategy is to select a player that has not been widely captained by your opponents.
• Potential for a High Score: Try and identify players who have the potential for a significant score in the match. Allrounders are often sensible picks as they have the potential to score with both bat and ball, or top-order batsmen facing a weak bowling attack where there is a chance of a century which could result in really high fantasy points boosting your team's score.

Example Scenario: Imagine you have Glenn Maxwell and Virat Kohli in your IPL dream team. Kohli is a legend, but it is highly unlikely that he will take part in bowling. Maxwell, on the other hand, will be able to contribute with both bat and ball. Therefore, Maxwell might well be the better Captain choice.

Also Read: Why Choosing All Rounders is Crucial in Fantasy Cricket

Smart choices here can single-handedly decide your contest rank.

Check Player Availability

You need to keep an eye out for any last minute changes regarding player ability as well, to ensure you are not carrying potential dead weight in your team i.e. players you might have selected before the match who don’t even end up in the playing XIs of their respective teams.

Look for the following:

• Injury updates: A last-minute injury can ruin your lineup if you don’t react.
• Changes in Playing XI: Sometimes, teams rotate players based on the opposition or conditions.

For all these factors, you should be closely monitoring what happens at the toss.

11Wizards has a nifty feature that allows you to build your dream team pre-toss, based on recent player form, pitch conditions, team strategies, etc. But these predictions are based on unconfirmed lineups and cannot account for the result of the toss i.e which team bats first. Therefore, if possible, a sensible strategy is to check your teams after the toss and update them to reflect any lineup changes and the impact of the toss.

Related: Understanding Pre-Toss and Post-Toss Predictions in 11Wizards

Missing a lineup change can cost you big time, so stay updated until the last possible moment.

Common Mistakes That Could Ruin Your Fantasy Team

Even experienced fantasy cricket players fall into these traps. Avoid fantasy cricket blunders at all costs:

• Blindly Picking Star Players: Reputation means nothing if the player isn’t in form or doesn’t suit the conditions.
• Ignoring Pitch Conditions: Choosing four pacers on a spin-friendly track? Big mistake.
• Overloading One Team: IPL is unpredictable. If you pick too many players from a single team and they fail, your fantasy score tanks.
• Not Checking Playing XI: Always, ALWAYS confirm the Playing XI before the deadline.

Any one of the above mistakes can drop you hundreds or even thousands of places on the leaderboard. So you need to play it smart!

Fantasy cricket during the IPL isn’t just a game—it’s a battle of strategy, knowledge, and smart decision-making. The difference between winning big and barely scraping by isn’t luck—it’s about making data-driven choices and avoiding common mistakes.

Conclusion

IPL Fantasy League is a fun and exciting way to test your cricket knowledge. To play, you need to pick a team of 11 players, follow the rules, and understand the points system.

Daily fantasy contests let you create a new team for each match, while season-long contests require long-term strategy. To win, you must study player form, match conditions, and last-minute team changes.

Picking the right captain and vice-captain is key, as they earn extra points. Fantasy cricket is not just about selecting star players—it’s about smart decisions and strategy.

With the right approach, you can improve your chances of winning. Stay informed, use data to build your team, and enjoy the thrill of IPL Fantasy League 2025! 🚀

FAQs

What is the IPL Fantasy League?

The IPL Fantasy League is an online contest where users create virtual cricket teams composed of real-life IPL players. Points are awarded based on the players' actual performances in matches. Users compete in various contests, and rankings determine the prizes they can win.

How do I create my IPL Fantasy League Team?

To create your IPL Fantasy League team, start by selecting the match you want to participate in. Then, build a team of 11 players, ensuring a mix of wicketkeepers, batsmen, all-rounders, and bowlers. You can include up to 7 players from a single IPL team. Carefully choose your Captain and Vice-Captain, as the Captain earns double points and the Vice-Captain earns 1.5 times the points. Once your team is set, make sure to submit it before the match starts, as no changes can be made afterward.

What are the scoring rules in IPL Fantasy League?

Points in the IPL Fantasy League are awarded for runs scored, wickets taken, catches, economy rate, and milestone achievements. Captains receive double the points, while Vice-Captains earn 1.5 times the points. However, penalties apply for underperformance, such as slow strike rates for batters or expensive economy rates for bowlers.

Can I change my team in IPL Fantasy League?

Yes, you can make unlimited changes to your team before a match begins. Additionally, you can modify your Captain and Vice-Captain before each match to optimise your scoring potential.

What are the best strategies to improve my IPL Fantasy performance?

To improve your performance in the IPL Fantasy League, analyse player form, recent performances, and match conditions before making your selections. Rather than picking players based on reputation alone, use data-driven insights to make informed decisions—apps like 11Wizards can help with this. Additionally, strategically using boosters in high-stakes matches can maximise your overall points and improve your ranking.

Fantasy cricket is at the peak of its popularity during the IPL season. Fans love watching the biggest cricket stars battle it out, and want to feel like they’re part of the action too. Many fans enjoy putting their cricket knowledge to the test and stand a chance to win exciting rewards in the process.