Fantasy cricket captaincy guide
The captain pick decides 30 to 40 percent of your team's total score. This guide walks through the five-factor model the Fantafeat desk uses every match-day, with worked examples from recent fixtures.
The five-factor captaincy model
The Fantafeat desk uses five factors to evaluate captain picks: recent form, venue record, match-up edge, ownership percentage and toss impact. Each factor is scored from 1 to 5, and the captain pick is the player with the highest composite score.
Factor one — recent form
Recent form is the player's average points per match across the last five matches. We weight the most recent match highest: 30 percent for the last match, 25 percent for the match before, and so on. A player averaging 60 points per match across the last five scores higher than a player averaging 75 across the last ten.
Factor two — venue record
Venue record is the player's average points per match at the venue. Some players perform better at certain grounds — typically because of pace/spin match-ups or batting-order positions. A player averaging 80 at the venue scores higher than a player averaging 90 across all venues.
Factor three — match-up edge
Match-up edge is the differential between the player's expected points against the specific opposition bowling or batting type tonight, and the league average. We use career data plus recent form to compute the edge.
Factor four — ownership percentage
Ownership is the percentage of public teams that have selected the player. Captaincy on an 80 percent-owned player gives zero rank differentiation; captaincy on a 5 percent-owned player gives maximum differentiation. We score higher for low-ownership captain picks in mega contests.
Factor five — toss impact
Toss impact adjusts the captain pick based on whether the team is batting or bowling first. Captaincy on powerplay batters pays off more when chasing; captaincy on strike bowlers pays off more when setting a target. We score higher for the side that benefits more from the toss result.
Safe captaincy versus differential captaincy
Safe captaincy picks the highest-scoring player under the five-factor model regardless of ownership. Differential captaincy picks the second-highest-scoring player if their ownership is under 10 percent and the contest is large enough to reward rank differentiation.
Safe captaincy wins in head-to-head and small leagues. Differential captaincy wins in mega contests. The Fantafeat desk publishes both options on the predictions page.
Frequently asked questions
How often do safe captains actually win their contest tier?
Across a full IPL season, a high-confidence safe captain finishes in the top 30 percent of their contest roughly 65 to 70 percent of the time. The remaining 30 to 35 percent is variance.
How often do differential captains actually win?
A high-confidence differential captain finishes in the top 0.5 percent of a mega contest roughly 35 to 45 percent of the time when ownership is under 5 percent. The variance is much higher.
When should I skip captaincy on a player entirely?
Skip captaincy when no player scores higher than 3 on the five-factor model. This usually happens in rain-shortened matches or matches with significant injury uncertainty.