Fantasy sports beyond cricket
Fantasy sports all share one idea: you manage a team of real athletes and score points from their real performances. The details change a lot from sport to sport, and from one game format to another.
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The idea every fantasy game shares
In every fantasy sport you pick real players, within a budget and position rules, and earn points from their statistics in real matches. Where games differ is in three choices:
- How long you keep your team. A single match, a week of fixtures, or a whole season.
- How players are allocated. In salary-cap games anyone can pick any player within a budget. In draft leagues each player can belong to only one manager.
- What earns points. Each sport rewards the actions that decide its matches: wickets in cricket, goals and clean sheets in football, raid and tackle points in kabaddi.
Single-match and season-long games
| Single-match (daily) | Season-long | |
|---|---|---|
| Team life | One fixture | Whole league or tournament |
| Changes | New team each match | Limited transfers per round |
| Key skill | Reading one match: pitch, toss, line-ups | Planning: fixtures, form, injuries, budget |
| Common in | Fantasy cricket in India | Fantasy Premier League, tournament fantasy games |
Fantasy cricket
Cricket is the biggest fantasy sport in India, mostly played match by match. You pick 11 players within a credit cap, with limits on wicket-keepers, batters, all-rounders and bowlers, and name a captain (2×) and vice-captain (1.5×). Start with what fantasy cricket is and the points system.
Fantasy football
The best-known season-long game is Fantasy Premier League, the Premier League's official game. For the 2026/27 season, the core rules are unchanged from last year:
- a squad of 15 players: 2 goalkeepers, 5 defenders, 5 midfielders and 3 forwards;
- a budget of £100.0m;
- no more than three players from any one club;
- a starting XI picked each gameweek, with a captain who scores double.
Points come from minutes played, goals, assists, clean sheets for defenders and goalkeepers, and bonus points for the best performers in each match. Our Fantasy Premier League beginner's guide goes through the first season step by step.
Fantasy kabaddi
Fantasy kabaddi follows the Pro Kabaddi League. Teams are smaller than in cricket, and points come from raid points, tackle points, successful raids, super raids and super tackles, with deductions for being caught out. Because starting line-ups decide who actually gets on the mat, the confirmed seven matter even more than in cricket. Rules vary by app, so check the scoring before you pick.
Fantasy basketball
Fantasy basketball scores box-score statistics: points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks, with deductions for turnovers in many formats. Playing time is everything; a bench player who gets 35 minutes because of an injury can outscore a star who sits out. Season-long head-to-head leagues, popular in the US, compare categories week by week.
Paid and free-to-play games
Many fantasy games, including Fantasy Premier League, are free to enter. In India, paid fantasy contests count as online money games and are prohibited under the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025. Read is fantasy sports legal in India? for the details.