How 11Wizards' Wicket Keeper Stacking Can Help You Improve Your Fantasy Team Score

Fantasy cricket, just like real cricket, can sometimes be a game of small margins. A few extra points here and there, and you could really shoot up the leaderboard. So, to give yourself an edge, you really should be looking to squeeze out every available fantasy point when a favourable event occurs. 11Wizards has an exclusive feature called Wicket Keeper Stacking (or WK stacking) that helps you do just that. Keep reading to learn more about it.

What is the Wicket Keeper Stacking Feature?

The Wicket Keeper (WK) Stacking feature in 11Wizards is designed to give you an edge in fantasy cricket contests by helping you get the maximum points when both keeper and bowler are involved in the fall of a wicket.

When you enable this feature, our lineup builder will automatically choose the wicket-keeper from the team that has the most bowlers in your fantasy team. This means your wicket-keeper has a better chance to earn points from catches or stumpings when their team's bowlers take wickets.

Let’s break down the logic behind this feature step-by-step to understand it better.

1. When a bowler takes a wicket, it is possible that the mode of dismissal is caught behind or stumping. The WK is involved in both types of dismissals.
2. The more bowlers from a certain team you have (after considering the various factors involved in fantasy team selections), the better the chances of that team’s keeper being involved when your selected bowlers pick up wickets.
3. This means that not only do you earn bowling points for the wicket, you also earn wicket keeping points. More dismissals like these where the keeper is involved can significantly boost your fantasy team’s total points tally.

Let’s look at an example to make things even clearer.

Imagine you were building a fantasy team for an upcoming T20 match between England and India, with both teams playing their first-choice keepers. At the time of writing, your keeping choices would most likely be between Rishab Pant and Jamie Smith. Both are aggressive batters, both proven wicket keepers.

So which one should you choose?

Think about it for a second. If you’ve selected 4 bowlers in your team, and 3 of them are from Team India, Pant is a sensible choice as your team’s wicket keeper.

With Pant as your keeper, there’s a distinct possibility that you will score higher points than with Smith.

For every England wicket taken by your Indian bowlers where the mode of dismissal is either caught behind or stumping, not only will your bowlers earn you fantasy points, but you’ll get extra points for the stumping or catch that Pant makes. You’re squeezing every last bit of juice that you can from the same event.

Had you selected Smith instead of Pant, then not only would you miss out on these extra points, but the chances of you earning a comparable number of points would be far lesser when England bowls, as you have only one England bowler in your team.

This is exactly what WK stacking is, and it’s an exclusive feature only available on the 11Wizards App. Unique features like this are one of the reasons why 11Wizards is the best fantasy cricket lineup builder.

How WK Stacking Can Help Maximise Your Fantasy Points

Players who can contribute in more than one facet of the game are like gold dust for your fantasy cricket team. It’s one of the reasons why selecting all-rounders for your fantasy team is so important.

Let’s look at another example to better understand how WK Stacking can help improve your fantasy team’s score.

Imagine a spin bowler deceives the batter with flight and turn, and the wicket-keeper completes a quick stumping. In this case, you not only earn points for the bowler’s wicket, but also for the wicket-keeper’s stumping involvement.

When a fast bowler gets the batter to edge the ball, and the wicket-keeper takes a clean catch behind the stumps, you gain points for the wicket as well as the catch.

In matches where bowlers dominate, wicket-keepers often find themselves involved in multiple dismissals, and this can really compound the benefit for your fantasy team in terms of points scored. Without WK Stacking, you might miss out on these extra points.

Choosing a wicket-keeper from a team with a strong bowling unit maximises your chances of gaining additional points from your wicket keeper. The more wickets your team takes, the more likely the keeper is to be involved in dismissals, resulting in significantly more points.

Wicket Keepers Can Bat Too

Most modern-day wicket-keepers are more than capable of using the bat, too. Think about some of the outstanding batting performances that players like Rishabh Pant, Heinrich Klassen, Quinton de Kock and Jos Buttler have put in over the years.

So when you select a wicket keeper, you’re likely also selecting a very good batter for your side.

But there’s another common theme to consider.

All the keeper-batters mentioned above are renowned for being explosive with the bat, too, so not only can they score big, they can score quickly too, and higher strike rates are worth extra fantasy cricket points.

Read more: Fantasy Cricket Points System Explained

And here’s the kicker: In much the same way as all-rounders can make good choices as captain and vice captain for your fantasy team, wicket keepers can also be considered for these roles. Captains and Vice-Captains earn 2x and 1.5x fantasy points respectively. So imagine how much your score could be boosted if your chosen keeper delivers excellent performances with the bat as well as with the gloves, and you’ve selected them as your captain too! It could be a real difference maker to your overall score, don’t you think?

Related: How to Choose Captain and Vice Captain in Dream11

Optimal Scenarios for Using WK Stacking Feature

Here are 4 scenarios where you could potentially consider enabling this feature in the 11Wizards Lineup Builder:

Bowling-Heavy Teams on Helpful Pitches

When teams play on bowler-friendly pitches (like those with extra swing, seam, or spin), the chances of dismissals through catches or stumpings increase. In such matches, having a wicket-keeper from the same team as your bowlers can help you maximise points earned by your wicket keeper.

Teams with a Mix of Pace and Spin

Teams with a good balance of fast bowlers and spinners offer more opportunities for the wicket-keeper to be involved in dismissals, whether through catches off pacers or stumpings off spinners. This variety increases your chances of picking up extra points from the WK’s fielding contributions.

Wicket-Keepers Who Can Score with the Bat Too

As mentioned earlier, most modern day wicket-keepers contribute significantly with the bat. Hence, choosing a keeper-batter from the same team as your bowlers gives you two scoring opportunities - from their fielding and batting performances.

Matches Where the Bowling Team Is Likely to Dominate

If you expect a team’s bowlers to take control and for it to be a low-scoring game - for example, when playing against a weak batting lineup — selecting their wicket-keeper boosts your chances of earning fielding points in a game where points from batting might be limited.

How to Enable Wicket-Keeper Stacking on 11Wizards?

It’s a simple 3 step process.

Step 1: On the match selection dashboard, tap on the match for which you want to play a contest. We’ve chosen the BBL match between Hobart Hurricanes and Sydney Sixers in this example.

Step 2: Tap on the contest in which you want to participate.

Step 3: Toggle on the WK Stacking Feature (turned off by default)

Once enabled, you can tap on the ‘Create teams’ button, and the 11Wizards Lineup Builder will build your dream team automatically, factoring in WK stacking as well as other criteria you might have enabled.

Note: This is an optional feature of 11Wizards, so that you can personalize your team selection according to your preferences. But the Lineup Wizard will pick the players that are worth picking regardless of whether or not you enable this option. So, referring back to our India vs England example, if there is merit in selecting Smith in the team on the basis of his own individual performances, he will still be selected.

Risks and Considerations Before Enabling Wicket-Keeper Stacking

Although wicket-keeper stacking can be a fantasy cricket game-changer, there are a few key factors you should keep in mind to make sure you're building a strong team—and not shooting yourself in the foot! Here’s what you need to think about before enabling this feature.

Potential Over Reliance on One Team

Enabling wicket-keeper stacking can lead to over-reliance on a single team, as the lineup tends to favour players from the same side. While this strategy can pay off if the team dominates, it also exposes you to significant risk if that team underperforms, leaving your lineup unbalanced and overly dependent on a single match outcome.

Over Reliance on Your Bowling Attack

If your bowling attack has an off-day, naturally it means that your wicket-keeper’s contribution to your points tally - at least behind the stumps - will also be underwhelming.

Over-Reliance on a Few Dismissal Methods

You gain the maximum advantage from the WK stacking feature when there are a reasonable number of stumpings and caught behind dismissals, and your chosen bowlers have picked up those wickets.

But if only one or two such dismissals occur, then the benefit of using this feature is not as significant.

Not Assessing the Pitch Conditions

Failing to consider pitch conditions is a common mistake made by fantasy cricket players. Before enabling wicket-keeper stacking, it’s crucial to assess whether it aligns with the pitch characteristics. Take the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, for example—a venue known for high-scoring matches. Here, bowlers typically have limited impact, and if your selected wicket-keeper isn’t a strong batter or bats too low in the order, their contribution to your points tally might be negligible. In such cases, relying on wicket-keeper stacking may not be the best strategy. Instead, you might be better off focusing on top-order batters or versatile all-rounders.

Understanding these nuances before finalising your selections is key to avoiding these potential pitfalls. One of the ways to reduce these potential risks is to submit multiple fantasy cricket teams for any contest in which you participate. Diversification has always been a smart risk management principle, so you should utilise it here as well.

Read more: Pros and Cons of Multiple Fantasy Cricket Teams

Conclusion

Winning or losing in fantasy cricket is often about small margins, so you need to do everything you can to improve your own chances.

WK Stacking might sound like a small tweak, but sometimes, it’s the smallest adjustments that make the biggest impact in fantasy cricket. If used correctly, it can be a real difference maker to your overall score.

That said, no strategy is foolproof, so you also need to learn how to balance risk with reward. Consider factors like pitch conditions when deciding to use this feature, and always mitigate your risk by submitting multiple lineups to your chosen contests. Also, think about whether you are becoming over-reliant on one team’s performance by using this feature.

FAQs

What is Wicket-Keeper (WK) stacking on 11Wizards?

WK Stacking, or Wicket Keeper Stacking, is a feature on the 11Wizards fantasy cricket lineup builder app that helps you maximise points by automatically selecting a wicket-keeper from the team with the most bowlers in your lineup. This increases the chances of earning points from fielding actions like catches and stumpings when those bowlers perform well.

What is the main advantage of the wicket-keeper stacking feature on 11Wizards?

The main advantage of WK Stacking is that it allows you to capitalise on team synergy. By aligning your wicket-keeper with the team that has the most bowlers in your lineup, you can earn extra points from catches and stumpings made off those bowlers, effectively squeezing more points from the same event.

How does Wicket-Keeper (WK) selection work in 11Wizards?

When you enable WK Stacking, the 11Wizards lineup builder analyses your chosen bowlers and automatically selects a wicket-keeper from the team that has the most bowlers in your lineup. This smart selection ensures your wicket-keeper is likely to benefit from the bowling performance of their teammates, boosting your overall fantasy score.