You might perceive Fantasy Sports as a pastime, an activity that keeps you engaging in your free hours. Some of us see it as an easy source of earning money in our daily lives. It’s an astonishing fact that are people who treat this as a day-to-day activity, just like their daily chores (bathing, eating, sleeping, etc). It does sound surprising but well that is a fact. Fantasy Cricket has left no stones unturned when you talk about the craze of it, all thanks to the huge following that already exists for Cricket nationwide.
Now that you’re curious to know more about the Case in Point, let us take you through the journey of one of our elite users, for whom Fantasy Cricket is not just a passion (or a pastime) but a very important daily activity because of the impact it has created in his life in a very short span. Read on to know his responses to the questions put in by our team basis the journey he has had on HalaPlay till now.
Here it goes!
Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where you grew up, went to school, what you did before Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS)?
I’m Kasi Viswanathan (chesskasi) from Tuticorin, a city in Tamilnadu. I did my schooling and diploma at my native town Karaikudi, Tamilnadu. Then I moved on to Chennai for my Engineering at Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Sriperumbudur (2015 batch).
Currently, I’m working as an Assistant Manager in a Fertiliser Industry, Tuticorin. I started playing Fantasy Sports during my college days. IPL official fantasy league is my first experience, played for prizes only.
When did you start playing on HalaPlay and how were you introduced to it?
I started playing on HalaPlay from August 2017. Before this I used to play on other platforms. I saw Ads of HalaPlay on Facebook and that’s how I came to know about it. I liked the App, so also referred it to my friends.
Tell us a bit about your Daily Fantasy journey. The struggles you had and successes.
Fantasy Cricket has become my day to day activity, just like brushing, bathing, eating, sleeping, etc. My mind somehow automatically reminds me of the entire day’s cricket schedule and timings. Accordingly, I plan my activities and work based on match timings. Sometimes when there are more matches, then I try to cancel all the other unimportant tasks (family functions, or whatever) for playing Fantasy Cricket, especially on Halaplay. If you don’t edit your team after lineups are out then there are high chances that you might lose, especially in Reverse League and so it’s quite important for you to be active till the match starts.
I’ve invested around ₹6.25 Lakh till now in the 13 months I’ve been on the platform and the amount received is over ₹11.5 Lakh. So if I do the math, the net profit for me is nearly ₹5.25 Lakh which is more than my CTC actually.
What kind of preparation and research goes behind drafting an ideal team for Cricket & Football?
Usually I maintain a diary for noting scorecards of each and every match of all the tournaments. This helps me analyse the cumulative records and statistics of the playing teams before drafting my best combination. With the information of the players’ past performance and my own instincts, I draft my Best 11. I don’t play Fantasy Football a lot, played it only during the World Cup and so I feel there is still a lot for me to learn there. But in Cricket, I play almost all the matches over all formats irrespective of the players familiarity.
My observation is that we can easily win less popular matches if we can genuinely spare sometime for them.
What is the criteria for choosing players (Current form, past records etc.)?
It is decided based on the format of the game. In T20s, a top order attacking batsman can give you lot of fantasy points. In Test cricket, a bowler can bowl and pick wickets and can also bat in both innings whereas a batsman can only bat two times, so picking more bowlers might work many a times in a Test Match. Generally, both past record and current form are important for selecting the players.
What is your strategy while choosing a captain for the team?
This is the most important strategy to get the 1st rank in a big league (like Monster). Usually I go with a less popular player or a very good all rounder as captain of my team.
Top order wicket-keeper batsman is generally a good option for captain because he can score points with gloves as well and he cannot get negative points for keeping. An All rounder can get negative points (say in bowling) which can affect the team’s position badly.
For low scoring bowling pitches, we can try economic bowler as a captain, he can give you lot of points.
How much does player position affect your drafting strategy (ST/MID/DEF) in Football?
I don’t play football a lot. But yes as per my limited experience I’ve noticed defenders give good amount of points compared to any other position players. So my strategy (in the limited football matches I play) is to go with maximum defenders possible.
You’ve played Football but not as much as Cricket, what kind of matches do you like to play in Football?
I played Fantasy Football only during FIFA World Cup. I couldn’t follow the game Football for significant time after that and so my focus is only on Fantasy Cricket.
We see that you’ve also referred HalaPlay to your friends, do you also play and compete with them? If yes, are they liking playing on the platform?
I referred HalaPlay to few of my friends. But still I haven’t played any private league with them. For some reason, my friends don’t want to compete with me. I generally play with them in Big Leagues only.
Seeing that earning through DFS takes a lot of time and dedication, how do you balance your work life with playing DFS?
My favourite boosters are “Doesn’t matter whether you win or lose, fight till the last moment. Success favours the person who deserves it”.
I spend time in Fantasy Cricket everyday. And it keeps happening that I lose my night sleeping time because of that. There are times when we have many matches in the night with just 1 to 2 hours gap. So for them I wake up few minutes before the starting time so I can edit the teams as planned, go off to sleep immediately after that and put alarm for the next match accordingly. Since lot of the people don’t wake up in the mid of the night, so our winning chances are high.
If you had one piece of advice to offer to a player new to DFS in terms of strategy, what would it be and why?
Believe in your strategy and keep having the same in every match till you win big. Some strategies may work frequently and some may take time. Patience is the key for every fantasy player.
Happens with me frequently that I spend significant time for one particular match but still could not win. Don’t expect profits daily. Compare your investments and returns periodically which helps you keep your money in control.
Where do you see yourself down the road in regards to DFS? Do you want there to be a long-term thing for you? What things do you hope to accomplish as a result of DFS success?
Basically I’m from a middle class family. So I see these type of opportunities as the easiest way to earn money with very less investment. Generally, I don’t take big risks. I prefer leagues of less than ₹99 only.
These insights can surely take you a long way in competing with the Fantasy Sports fanatics. Start riding on the wave and keep your ammunition ready. If you are yet to play on HalaPlay, Signup here. Use code POTW100 & get ₹100 instantly in your HalaPlay account.
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