IPL Fantasy Faceoff

If you've read my earlier post you know how I feel about leaving booster until later when we know better. But that's usually because it gives us a better opportunity to utilise the booster. However one of the main changes this season is that we have been given TWO of some boosters. Meaning leaving it until the second half may mean not enough good games to use it on. Because of that I'll be showing a potential team strategy where Indian Warriors boost is used in game 1.

Why this game specifically? SRH and RCB are both batting heavier sides with weaker bowling sides. Especially with Hazlewood, Cummins, Dayal and maybe Nuwan Thushara all unavailable. Chinnaswamy is a well known ground for big totals, flatter pitch and smaller boundaries, lots of points to be scored. SRH especially will be playing their classic go big or go home style suited for big fantasy totals. Now I’ve also seen some AI models others have created that recommend using it though I have very little trust in these AI’s and don’t recommend them yet…

Some of my choices were really easy with a minimum 3 batsmen needed; these were basically my only options. Kohli, Padikkal and Patidar. Smaran is the only other option and is an easy no.

Wicket-Keepers were an actual choice I had to make. I really wanted to have Ishan as we’ve seen and established his talent over the years and the recent t20 WC and Jitesh was also great the last couple seasons. I could’ve just gone for one or included Salil Arora who is one of the most talented young players coming into this season. But unfortunately no guarantee he’ll play.

All-Rounders on the other hand were a very difficult choice. Abhishek, Venkatesh, Krunal, Aniket, NKR, Mendis, Dubey, Shivang Kumar, Swapnil Singh AND Mangesh Yadav. Now most of these won’t play but WOW do we have our work cut out for us. So many talented superstars I’d love to include in my team this season but right now trying to make the best teams no rookies will be included with this booster. The top contenders are Abhi, NKR, Venky and Krunal. I believe everyone knows how dangerous Abhishek can be when he gets going and we saw a glimpse of that in the finals against New Zealand. NKR was great in 2024 but had an unfortunately subpar 2025. Iyer had a plain BAD last season and would be hoping to recover his name with the new RCB. Krunal Pandya is just a consistent point maker throughout the years and can be expected to continue. Sharma and Iyer are only allrounder by the fantasy games standards and it's unlikely they’ll bowl which is an advantage Pandya and NKR have. However I will be going for the trio of Sharma, Iyer and Pandya as they have a good combo of high ceiling for points and consistent points-making.

Bowlers were made more effective by the absence of Cummins, Hazlewood and Thushshara as it left more wickets to be taken by Indians. Dayal is not playing (ever) so we can ignore him. That leaves Bhuvi, Ansari, Jaydev, Harshal, Malinga, Suyash, Salam and Mavi. Again removing the possible bench-warmers we have a decent list. But here I had a problem. I was out of budget but left the exact 3 bowlers remaining. I made the team wanting to use as minimal bowlers as possible as I think they’ll get smacked but I was hoping I’d be able to make my best team. So I had a choice, Harshal, Bhuvi and Jaydev and swap maybe Padikkal/Iyer for someone cheaper, which I still might do after the line up is revealed if I can take Arora or Smaran. Orrr take Bhuvi, Ansari and Jaydev. For now I’m taking the latter option. You might disagree, I might disagree and change things but only time will tell.

So that’s my second experimental team but honestly after all this thinking I do think it has A LOT of potential if things go similarly to 2025. Which is of course the risk of playing a booster first game. Now it’s your choice to make. Reliable, slow start or high risk high reward match. Good luck to both teams and everyone who plays. Be sure to join our league – 7B40KD0110@1 – to compete before the first game starts too. I’ll be back with a post after the toss and maybe a sneaky extra one in-between. Thanks for reading.