Fantasy cricket
Fantasy Cricket is a part of the Fantasy Sports genre. It is an online game where you create a virtual team of real cricket players and score points depending on how your chosen players perform in real life matches. To win a tournament, you must work towards attaining the maximum points and the No. 1 rank on the leader-board.e.g. ICC Fantasy league, IPL Fantasy league etc.
Fantasy Cricket Matches
A Fantasy Cricket Match is based on batting and bowling orders which are the most debated part of cricketing strategy. A little change in the order can change the course of the game. The concept involves selecting a team of 11 players and 3 substitutes from the pool of players who will play the match. There are no budget caps and player selection is not limited to a particular number of batsmen, bowlers and all-rounders. A fantasy team can have any type of players. The main aim in a Fantasy Cricket Match is to out-score the opposition by as big margin as possible. Fantasy cricket matches can be played in all 3 international forms: One Day International, Twenty20 and Test Cricket. The limited over matches, namely ODIs and T20s, are played in 2 interesting formats- Daily Games and Rounds.
Fantasy Cricket in India
Fantasy Cricket is classified as a Game of Skill similar to Fantasy Sports in the United States. Fantasy Cricket for Cash is at the hub of three dynamic industry spokes, namely, Internet, Gaming and Cricket.
Defining Skill: Supreme Court of India has explained skill in terms of superior knowledge, training, attention, experience and adroitness. The Supreme Court of India, in K.R. Lakshmanan v. State of Tamil Nadu, stated as follows: A game of skill, on the other hand – although the element of chance necessarily cannot be entirely eliminated – is one in which success depends principally upon the superior knowledge, training, attention, experience and adroitness of the player.
The relevant excerpt from the judgment of the Supreme Court of India in K.R. Lakshmanan v. State of Tamil Nadu, AIR 1996 SC 1153[1] is: There are few games, if any, which consist purely of chance or skill, and as such a game of chance is one in which the element of chance predominates over the element of skill, and a game of skill is one in which the element of skill predominates over the element of chance. It is the dominant element – “skill” or “chance” – which determines the character of the game.
The Court categorically stated the meaning of skill (in Paragraph 20 of the case), in the following terms: We, therefore, hold that the expression “mere skill” would substantial degree or preponderance of skill. In the above case, the Court was considering Section 11 of the Tamil Nadu Gaming Act, which excluded the application of the act to games of ‘mere skill’, and is in pari materia with Section 12 of the Public Gambling Act of 1867.[2] Interestingly, in that case the Court concluded that horse-racing was a game of skill.
Fantasy Cricket in USA
In USA, cricket is enjoyed largely by Indian Sub-Continent diaspora. While Fantasy (American) Football is extremely popular, other sports including Cricket lack mass appeal due to subdued knowledge of the game in the country.
In USA, fantasy sports for cash is defined and exempted by the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA). The act included an explicit provision noting that the law would not apply to fantasy sports games, educational games, or any online contest that "has an outcome that reflects the relative knowledge of the participants, or their skill at physical reaction or physical manipulation (but not chance), and, in the case of a fantasy or simulation sports game, has an outcome that is determined predominantly by accumulated statistical results of sporting events, including any single score, point-spread, team performance, or individual performance in such sporting events…"
Fantasy Cricket Leagues
A fantasy cricket league is a group plays together. Each can register individual teams and then compete to see who wins the maximum fantasy cricket points and thereby the league. These leagues are very popular during major T20 like IPL t20
Private Fantasy Cricket League
A private league is a league which a user/administrator creates and invites his friends or associates to participate in. Entry is strictly restricted to invitation only. People can join a league, create a team and follow the progress of their team and teams created by friends.
Public Fantasy Cricket League
A public league is a league generally created by an administrator of the website for a particular tournament and anyone is free to join by paying an initial fee. The fee is only applicable for a paid league. For a free league, there is no initial payment needed. Such kind of free leagues are very popular during big ticket international cricket events such as ODI World cup, ICC T20 world cup, Indian Premier League and other high profile series such as the Ashes