Make it Real, not Fantasy
So I decided to stack up a team. There were points on offer. by ESPN. It has been long since I have made a point. Hence the excitement.
I didn’t pay too much heed to the limited and scarce number of transfers that I had in my bag, instead, the strategy suggested by Nicklaus, my alter ego was slam the minnows hard. And I listened. Unforeseen travel plans stained the original blueprint. I was to have no access to the Internet for a good four days. In a desperate bid to amass the points, I packed my team with South Africans and Pakistanis. Eleven of them in all. The two were scheduled to play against a couple of ordinary minnows on the same day. I requested Sharandeep to log into my account and adjust my captains accordingly. Afridi in the morning and AB post lunch. Both Afridi, and AB slammed Man of the Match performances. I had made my point. I have nothing to prove to the world anymore. I had stacked up the points and ranked 1798 in the world. And that remains my highest ranking in anything that I have attempted in life until this point in time.
The following week, India was scheduled to play a couple of ordinary minnows, and England on the weekend. Three games in seven days. Nicklaus insisted that I stack Indians. I did. Yuvraj Singh was the unanimous choice for captain because he, like Ganguly can score the runs and knock the wickets only against ordinary opposition. And how! Fifties and bags of wickets! And successive Man of the Match awards. Yuvraj had repaid my faith in him. I retained him in my team and retained his captaincy services in the game against the West Indies. He was Man of the Match then again.
In the mean time, Afridi and Watson added points to my tally in the background. My focus was on Australia though. They’d be playing a couple of very ordinary minnows, and Pakistan on the weekend. In all, three games in the week. I stacked them in, all six of them. Much to my disappointment, they didn’t stack up the points as expected. Nicklaus had failed me.
And I was under the impression that I had to walk into the quarter finals with my final XI. And that I’d have all of 10 transfers thereon. On the day, I found out that I had unlimited transfers available until the start of the first quarter final. A complete failure of strategy, a strategy that had seared me up to greatness has come crumbling down.
Nevertheless, I walk into the quarter finals stacked like this:
I had however topped all of the two leagues that I am listed in for most of the four weeks of the league stages of the 2011 Cricket World Cup. I finish this round on 11161 points, ranked 4289 on the world stage, my second highest ranking in everything that I have attempted in life thus far. I’m now second on each of those two leagues. Sharandeep has taken over.
I had entrusted my faith in S Ajmal, R Ashwin and S Akhtar. These gentlemen however didn’t play any of the games that I’d picked them for. I ban these gentlemen from my future teams. R Ashwin, however will be under a period of probation. He will be considered for future selections if he abstains from fish. Dhoni however, receives a life ban for not playing for the crowds. At the end of the day, the players play for their country, to repay the faith of the national selectors, their team etc. but most importantly, they play for those who’ve picked them in their ESPN Fantasy Cricket team.
Sandeep Ail, and 
mach3 are discussing. 
Aniruddha are discussing. 
mach3 1:01 pm on March 21, 2011 Permalink |
Oh! I forgot to avail of my bragging rights. In a league titled ‘Star Wars’, comprising of Chappell, Boycott, Manjrekar and four others who’ve never played the game and hence, must be ignored, only Manjrekar has stacked up more points than I have. I lead Chappell and Boycott.
Sandeep Ail 1:06 pm on March 21, 2011 Permalink |
Sharandeep???? haha.. you might still get the highest rank of your life… there are still 7 games to go… your team looks well balanced and its nice to see that you got the magic figure of 1000000 without potersfield
… aaah Tahir must have done the trick….. I am going to take a few cue’s from your team …. I think you have done reasonably well… with some luck you could have been in the top 1000 right now….
mach3 2:03 pm on March 21, 2011 Permalink |
Yes, everyday we learn something new. To keep focus for a whole month is difficult.
mach3 2:09 pm on March 21, 2011 Permalink |
Oh yes! I forgot to mention one Mr. WTS Porterfield. I carried him through the tournament. I put my faith in him. But he let me down. With one game to go, he’d amassed all of 55 points… 5 catches made 50 points and 5 points off his bat. He owed me a big one hundred and fifty against the Netherlands but fell 82 runs short. He disappointed me to a great extent.
Sandeep Ail 1:11 pm on March 21, 2011 Permalink |
…. however I didn’t like the idea of having too many players from the same team….. I preferred having two or three from one team and hoping that the captain scored points( since the points are doubled)… That meant that you were left with enough transfers to cap someone in every game… However this realization dawned upon me a little late
)
mach3 2:02 pm on March 21, 2011 Permalink |
Yes, as you can see, no Englishmen, no Sri Lankans. Why waste spots if they’re going to be playing only on Saturday. By then, I’ll dispose off some of the losers, only to fill ‘em with an Englishman or two.
Sandeep Ail 2:24 pm on March 21, 2011 Permalink |
No one from West Indies??? How about Ravi Rampaul??
mach3 2:48 pm on March 21, 2011 Permalink |
He is a wily fox. But, if we make the fox run, the chicken will become hen. When you have a hen laying eggs you should not mind the cackle. You cannot ride a seat-less bicycle without getting blisters on your bums.
Sandeep Ail 3:07 pm on March 21, 2011 Permalink
Shaaaaaakkkkkkssss….. what was that?????? all the hen and fox sounds like headless-cock on a seat-less bum .. lol
mach3 2:11 pm on March 21, 2011 Permalink |
I’m very sure that all of my batsmen will fail to impress.
mach3 5:05 pm on March 21, 2011 Permalink |
What this has taught me is that you pick the blokes in form, and not by reputation. A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. Beware of the naked man who offers you his shirt.
Sandeep Ail 5:20 pm on March 21, 2011 Permalink |
Towards the latter 1/3 rd I tried to pick according to the venue, pitch report and toss… I thought that helped a lot… more often than not.. a players form is only as good as the pitch he is playing on. Needless to say that it took a lot more time and not worth the macbook air that I will not win
crickzone 6:20 pm on April 25, 2011 Permalink |
not all the batsmen will fail but only few ..
Really missing pak players in IPL