How to Play Consider11 Fantasy Cricket — Beginner Walkthrough
A step-by-step walkthrough of how to play Consider11 fantasy cricket: account, XI, captain pick, contest entry and settlement, written for new Indian players.
C11 Editorial team · Consider11Updated weeklyReading time ~ 8 minutes
What you need before you start
Before you download or sign up, run through this short pre-flight. None of these steps take more than a minute, and each one protects you from common beginner mistakes.
A working phone number for OTP-based sign in and account recovery.
A unique password that you do not use on any other site. Use a password manager if you have one.
Your state eligibility confirmed on our legal status page. If your state is restricted, you can still read the guides but you cannot join paid contests.
A personal entertainment budget set before you deposit — decide the amount, the frequency and the date you'll review it.
Figure 1 — Real-world batting, bowling and wicketkeeping roles are mirrored in your fantasy XI. Picking the right role for the venue is more important than picking the biggest name.
The five player roles in your XI
Every fantasy XI is built from five roles. The salary cap and the contest rules stay the same, but the value of each role shifts with the venue, the surface and the weather.
Wicketkeeper (1)
One wicketkeeper slot. Captains and vice-captains can come from any role. Pick a player who will bat in the top six — keeper-batsmen score consistently because they get a guaranteed powerplay hit.
Batters (3–6)
Most contests allow three to six batter slots depending on format. On flat decks, lean toward six batters. On slow, turning tracks, lean toward four.
Allrounders (1–4)
Allrounders are the single most valuable role because they can score with both bat and ball. Choose allrounders who bowl at least two overs — part-timers usually do not get enough fantasy points to justify the slot.
Bowlers (3–6)
Pick bowlers who will bowl the death overs on flat tracks and the powerplay on green seamers. A bowler's strike rate matters more than his total wickets.
Captain and vice-captain
The captain's score is multiplied by 2x and the vice-captain's by 1.5x. Use the captain slot for the player most likely to top-score for your team; use the vice-captain slot for the player most likely to bat even if the captain has a quiet day.
Figure 2 — The captain pick deserves more discussion than any other slot. Compare player notes, not just the headline fantasy points.
A worked example XI for a T20 evening match
Let's walk through a concrete XI selection for a T20 evening match at a flat Indian venue with expected dew.
Wicketkeeper — keeper-batter who opens. Confirmed opener status matters more than brand name.
Batter 1 — anchor who bats at three. Reliable scorer, unlikely to make a fifty but very unlikely to make a duck.
Batter 2 — powerplay aggressor who targets the first six overs.
Batter 3 — death-overs specialist. Plays the final five overs regardless of the situation.
Allrounder 1 — seam-bowling allrounder who bowls two death-over spells.
Allrounder 2 — spin-bowling allrounder who bowls in the middle overs.
Bowler 1 — powerplay specialist.
Bowler 2 — middle-overs spinner.
Bowler 3 — death-overs yorker specialist.
Bowler 4 — backup seamer if conditions seam early.
Bowler 5 — variation bowler, picked for a flat track and used sparingly.
The captain is the death-overs batter; the vice-captain is the keeper-batter. Both have guaranteed batting time and clear role stability.
Choosing the right contest
Contest format changes the variance. A mega contest rewards one big captain pick; a small-group league rewards balance. As a beginner:
Start with practice contests. The scoring engine is identical to paid contests.
Move to small-group leagues when your practice results are within 10% of the field average.
Treat head-to-heads as a confidence check on a single pick.
Avoid mega contests until you have a clear captain-and-vice-captain framework.
Squad locks and player availability
The single biggest mistake a beginner can make is locking a player who is later ruled out. Always:
Check the team's official social feed an hour before the toss for the latest XI.
Avoid locking before the toss unless the operator allows last-minute edits.
Keep a backup XI in mind — your real XI is rarely your first instinct.
Figure 3 — Pitch inspection is rarely televised but it is the single biggest clue for fantasy selection. Check pre-match reports from the operator's preferred cricket feed.
Scoring quick reference
Every action in your XI is converted into points by the operator's published scoring table. The condensed points system reference covers the most common T20, ODI and TEST values. Always check the operator's own table before joining a paid contest.
Settlement and the learning loop
After the contest settles, take five minutes to review:
Did your captain out-score the field average?
Did your bowlers bowl the overs you predicted?
Did the toss change the chase pattern?
What would you change for the next match?
This review loop is how casual players become regulars. Treat every contest as data, not as a result.
Responsible play reminder
Skill contests are entertainment, not income. If you find yourself chasing losses, playing longer than planned or topping up without thinking, stop and read our responsible play guide for free, confidential help lines.
Captaincy is the single most leveraged decision in any fantasy XI. Two slots decide roughly forty percent of your leaderboard outcome: the captain's 2x multiplier and the vice-captain's 1.5x hedge. Most casual players pick the most expensive player in the lineup. The strongest captain picks share four habits.
First, they pick the role, not the name. A powerplay aggressor at a flat deck with evening dew will out-score a star middle-order anchor almost every time. Second, they trust confirmed roles, not rumour. A captain whose batting position is uncertain at the toss is a captain whose fantasy floor is also uncertain. Third, they balance the XI so that one contrarian captain pick is enough; going fully differential across every slot is how casual players turn a contest into a coin flip. Fourth, they use the vice-captain slot as a real hedge — pick a player who will bat even if the captain has a quiet day, not a backup specialist who may not get a hit.
Squad shape and salary-cap strategy
The salary cap is the second most important lever after captaincy. A balanced squad usually costs more than an unbalanced one but scores more consistently. Most operators publish the salary of every player before the match; the desk always cross-checks before locking the XI.
A typical balanced squad for a T20 evening match might split the salary cap into roughly forty percent for the top three batters, thirty percent for the allrounders, twenty-five percent for the bowlers, and five percent for the wicketkeeper. That ratio is not a rule — it shifts with the venue — but it is a sensible starting framework when you are unsure how to allocate credits.
What live tracking actually tells you
Most operators run a ball-by-ball leaderboard. The leaderboard can be informative in two ways and misleading in three. Informative: it confirms your captain is batting and the role is real. Misleading: it tempts you to refresh the app every over instead of trusting your pre-match read; it shows you the field rather than your own XI; and it suggests that small leadboard changes in the powerplay are meaningful when most contests are decided in the death overs.
Use the leaderboard as a confirmation tool, not a steering wheel. If your captain is batting at the fall of the fifth wicket, your read is correct. If your captain is not in the XI, your read is wrong — and you should learn for the next match rather than chase the contest.
Tournament-long strategy
The strongest regular players treat fantasy cricket as a season-long practice rather than a single match. They keep a notebook — or a spreadsheet — with captain picks, role reads, contest outcomes and the lessons from each match. After twenty matches, the notebook shows patterns: which venues reward which roles, which players are consistently over- or under-priced, and which contests match their personal risk appetite.
Without that loop, every match feels like a fresh guess. With it, every match becomes data — and the leaderboard follows.
A short note on tools and trackers
The desk does not endorse any third-party tracker that scrapes operator data. Use the operator's official app, the operator's preferred cricket feed, and your own notebook. If you do use a tracker, make sure it does not require your account credentials.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions
How long does a contest take to settle?
Most contests settle within a few minutes of the match ending, but payouts to bank or wallet can take a few business days.
Can I edit my XI after locking?
That depends on the operator and the contest format. Some operators allow last-minute swaps until the toss; others lock the XI at the start of the match.
What happens if my captain does not play?
Most operators substitute the captain multiplier onto another player in your XI. Read the operator's substitution rules before you join.
Can I use the same XI in multiple contests?
Yes. Many readers run the same XI across a small-group league and a head-to-head for the same match.
