The COVID-19 outbreak led to all major sporting events being cancelled to contain the spread of the virus. This badly affected the fantasy cricket online market as they depend upon real-life games. Fantasy cricket players have to make a virtual team and when those players play well in the real-life game, the fantasy cricket player gets points. They also earn money based on their points. The COVID-19 outbreak brought all this to a standstill.
However, with things slowly returning to normal, sporting events are resuming across the world. In fact, India’s most awaited cricket tournament, the Indian Premier League, has also been resumed. This would mark team India’s return to the field before they challenge Australia in a series of Test Matches and ODIs from December. All these matches are about to bring the best of opportunities for the fantasy cricket match players.
During the lockdown, the fantasy cricket apps were organizing quizzes and trivia. Despite all this, they hardly made any money. As Yashashvi Takallapalli, CEO of Nostragamus, one such platform, claimed that all this was more to keep users engaged.
But with the matches resuming, the apps are aiming for more players to join in. They are informing their users via notifications as and when tournaments are being resumed. Like, MyTeam11 sent notifications to all its users about Bundesliga being resumed. This is expected to boost the revenue that had dipped recently.
The major turn that these apps have taken is in turn of the available games. They are bringing in more varieties of games to the platforms. Like, baseball and basketball are being introduced in several apps.
Along with that, they are also having big names from the cricket world as their brand ambassadors. My11Circle is a co-presenting sponsor for England-West Indies Test in Southampton. This was the first International cricket game after almost three months and the stadium saw huge advertisements for the app. While My11Circle is being endorsed by Sourav Ganguly, Dream11 has Dhoni as its brand ambassador. Dream 11 is India’s leading fantasy cricket game and a key sponsor for BCCI and the IPL.
Meanwhile, fantasy cricket game players are gearing up for the upcoming matches. They are preparing their best to make their dream team post-COVID. The quizzes being organized by the apps are playing a part in this. The post-COVID world of fantasy cricket would see fiercer competitions and more people choosing the right players.
This might also see the rise of new players as all the players were out of practice for months now. They would soon be resuming training to get back into shape. You will have to be more careful post-COVID in choosing players when you play fantasy cricket because players who performed well earlier might not necessarily play well immediately. They might need some time to get back into the game as well. This also gives the chance to many emerging players and a new element of surprise to fantasy cricket.
