Article
Rivalry notes
With IPL Fantasy 2026 now live, the hardest part is building that very first team before a ball has even been bowled. There is always a temptation to overreact, take too many punts, or go all-in on one opening fixture. I wanted to do the opposite.
My early team is built around a simple idea: start with players who can score in multiple ways, target top-order involvement, back proven T20 impact players, and leave enough flexibility to adapt once the tournament starts taking shape. That approach makes even more sense in the official season-long IPL Fantasy format, where users who join before Match 1 get a large transfer allocation across the league stage rather than needing to treat the opening squad as a permanent one.
This year’s opening game is Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, scheduled for 28 March 2026, so it makes sense that my first draft leans into that matchup while still keeping the rest of the squad broad enough for the next few fixtures as well.
The Team at a Glance
My current side is:
Wicket-keepers: Phil Salt, Tim Seifert<br />Batters: Travis Head (C), Rinku Singh, Ruturaj Gaikwad<br />All-rounders: Aniket Verma, Hardik Pandya, Sam Curran<br />Bowlers: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Tushar Deshpande
The main reason I like this very early team which is prone to changes right now is because it backs involvement over reputation.
In fantasy, the best starting picks are usually not the flashiest names. They are the ones who are most likely to be involved from the first over to the last.
That is why I like players such as Phil Salt, Travis Head, and Ruturaj Gaikwad. Top-order batters get the best chance to face the most deliveries, and in T20 fantasy that matters a lot. You want players who are not waiting for the game to come to them at number six or seven. You want players who can decide the innings.
Salt especially feels like a very logical early selection. As a wicket-keeper batter, he gives you access to runs and keeping points, which is always valuable. If he gets off to one of his usual fast starts, he can outscore plenty of bigger-name picks in a hurry.
Head, meanwhile, is exactly the sort of player I want leading an early fantasy side. He is aggressive, he plays high-impact innings, and when he comes off, he tends to come off big. In the first week of a tournament, that ceiling matters.