Making a Dream Team: Competition of tactics and strategy

Mr. Pulkit Mathur, a software developer in one of the multinational companies, was sitting on
the couch in his Delhi-located home. Due to the pandemic, he was working from home since
the last six months and very rarely went out for emergency purposes. It was a Sunday evening,
and he was exploring the options of passing the time on social media. Suddenly a WhatsApp
message popped up on his mobile screen. It was from one of his college friends Jack. Mr.
Mathur opened the WhatsApp messenger, and the conversation started.

Jack: What are you doing these days?

Mr. Mathur: Nothing new, getting bored at home?

Jack: Why don’t you come over to Dream 11? All of our friends are there.

Mr. Mathur: What is Dream 11?

Jack: It is a fantasy sports platform of a dream sports company. The platform allows users to
build their fantasy teams and play fantasy leagues in cricket, hockey, football, kabaddi,
baseball, handball, and basketball. It organized various practice and paid contests where
people can use their skills to compete with other people. We can also create our own
competitions of IPL 2020 and compete against each other. Come over. It will be fun!
Mr. Mathur: But I don’t know how to play and compete on Dream 11. I have very limited
knowledge about IPL matches.
Jack: Don’t worry, it is very simple. Each participant creates a virtual team of real players for
an upcoming match and competes with each other in the game. The team earns points based
on the selected players’ performances in real-life matches.
Mr. Mathur: Great! It will be fun competing with our close friends. Who else is there from
our college?
Jack: All of us from Jairaj Hostel, Prashant, Obaid, Himanshu, Avinash, Vikas, Vikrant,
Neeraj, Sourabh, Naveen, Gaurav, Shobit, Revant, Spidy, and Ramesh. Mr. Mathur: Wow! I
have not met with them since ages. How are they? Jack: Come over the app. Talk to them in
person. The final match of IPL 2020 is scheduled tomorrow at 7:30 PM between Delhi
Capitals and Mumbai Indians.
Mr. Mathur: Ok, but first, tell me how to participate in that match between Delhi Capitals
and Mumbai Indians.

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Jack: Dream11 hosts games across many different sports. To participate in a cricket match,
click on the upcoming match you want to play and create a team before the match starts. See
Exhibit 1 to get an idea of upcoming matches. It shows that 26 hours are remaining for the
match to start.
Mr. Mathur: Ok, fine. Can you tell me how to create a team on Dream 11? Jack: Creating a
team is simple. We can pick a player in our team by simply clicking on the + icon on the right
side of the player (see Exhibit 2). We can check the details of the player by clicking on their
image. The details include the total accumulated points by the player till now, credits (the cost
of a player), and the selection percentage (it shows the percentage of people who bought that
player).
Each participant is given 100 credits within which he/she has to create a team. The players
with higher accumulated points are generally costly and available at higher credits. So, we
have to select the players we think will score the most points for the selected match. While
creating a team, you need to consider the following rules:
∙ Each team will be having a mix of players from both Delhi Daredevils or Chennai Super
kings
∙ Each team can have atmax 7 players from one playing team
∙ Each team must have exactly 11 Players
∙ Each team can have in between 1 to 4 Wicket Keepers
∙ Each team can have in between 3 to 6 batsmen
∙ Each team can have in between 1 to 4 all-rounders
∙ Each team can have in between 3 to 6 bowlers
Once the team is constructed, it is editable till the time the match starts. Also, you can create
and join contests with up to 11 teams for every match. I am sharing my team with you to get
an idea of how a team looks (see Exhibit 3).
Mr. Mathur: I got it. It means I have to select players in my team considering their credits.
The total credit of all players should not be greater than 100 after following the above rules.
Jack: Yes exactly, you have to select the best possible team within these 100 credit points.
Mr. Mathur: Ok, and how to join a contest in dream 11?
Jack: There are two types of contests. 1) Paid contests: in which you pay the entry fees and
compete with the participants. The top rankers win the prize money depending on the rank. In
our customized contest, the prize will be awarded to 10 participants out of 15 participants. See
This document is authorized for use only in Prof. Peeyush Pandey’s SOM course at Indian Institute of
Management Rohtak, from December 2023 to March 2024. Copying or posting is an infringement of
copyright.
Exhibit 4 for the details. 2) Practice contests: which are free to join. In these contests, you
compete with others, but no prize money is offered to the winners.
Mr. Mathur: Great! Now can you tell me how the teams’ performance will be evaluated?
Jack: When the match starts, the player in the virtual team on Dream 11 earns points on
Batting, Bowling, and Fielding. The scoring method is shown in Exhibit 5. Also, when a
match is live, we can follow our contests leader boards to see how our team is performing
against our competitors (Exhibit 6 shows the leader board of the MI Vs. DC match held on
31st October). We can also chat with them in real-time through the Contest Chat feature. After
a match ends, if we finish in the winning zone for a contest, the winnings are transferred to
our account. We can use them to join more contests or withdraw by transferring it into our
bank accounts.

IPL 2020 Final Match: Mumbai Indians Vs. Delhi Capitals

The 2020 season of the Indian Premier League was a unique one. The BCCI (Board of
Control for Cricket in India), due to the pandemic, announced that the tournament will start
late from the regular season, and the Venue was selected to be UAE which was not new for
the country as they had already hosted few games of the tournament back in 2014 due to the
Lok Sabha Elections. Three stadiums that had already hosted IPL were selected to host the
entire tournament this time. The Final match was scheduled at Dubai International Stadium.
The two teams to reach the finals were Mumbai Indians (MI) and Delhi Capitals (DC). It was
the first appearance of Delhi capitals in the Finals. They last met in Qualifier 1, where MI
won by 57 Runs. Thanks to Jasprit Bumrah for his exceptional 4/14, Ishan Kishan’s 55 of 30
balls, and Suryakumar Yadav’s 51 of 38 balls. For DC, Stoinis for picking up a wicket and
scoring 65 runs. Due to this loss, DC had to travel to Abu Dhabi from Dubai to play Sunrisers
Hyderabad (the winner of Eliminator 1) to try their chances through to the final. DC Won the
match with the help of Dhawan’s spectacular 78 of 50 balls and Rabada’s 4/29 in 4 overs. The
Final was scheduled on 10th November 2020 at 7:30 PM IST. The stage was set, and the teams
were prepared to give their all for an action-packed final match.

Mr. Mathur’s Dilemma

After downloading the mobile application of Dream 11, Mr. Mathur first thought of
participating in some practice contests so that he can prepare himself for tomorrow’s match.
He tried his luck in the T10 league by joining a practice contest with his virtual fantasy team.
His team scored quite well in that match, but this was due to sheer luck as he didn’t have any

This document is authorized for use only in Prof. Peeyush Pandey’s SOM course at Indian Institute of
Management Rohtak, from December 2023 to March 2024. Copying or posting is an infringement of
copyright.
idea of players and their past performances. He understood that his performance in
tomorrow’s match would solely depend on selecting players within 100 credits. He wanted to
remain in wining zone, i.e., among the top 65 percent of the participants. With this goal in
mind, he may get his entry fees back through prize money (see Exhibit 4). He looked at the
past estimates of the players and their corresponding points (Exhibit 7).
Loaded with confidence due to his performance in the T10 league, he added some cash into
his account on the app and started making the team for tomorrow’s match. While making the
team, Mr. Mathur could select 10 players without any problem, but when he selected 11th
player S Dhawan into his team, the app did not allow him to do so as the remaining credits
fell short. It means he has to replace the already selected players with the cheaper (lower
credit) players to make room for S Dhawan into his team. This way, if he compromises with
cheaper players for S Dhawan, he may miss the opportunity to score higher points in the
match. And, if he does not select S Dhawan into his team and consider any other cheaper
alternative, he is not considering the best player who may score well in tomorrow’s match.
Now Mr. Mathur is in a
dilemma and looking for the most reliable tactics to select a team which will strategically
perform well in the final match.
This document is authorized for use only in Prof. Peeyush Pandey’s SOM course at Indian Institute of
Management Rohtak, from December 2023 to March 2024. Copying or posting is an infringement of
copyright.
Exhibit 1: Upcoming matches
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Management Rohtak, from December 2023 to March 2024. Copying or posting is an infringement of
copyright.
Exhibit 2: Team Selection Exhibit 3: Fantasy team
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Management Rohtak, from December 2023 to March 2024. Copying or posting is an infringement of
copyright.
Exhibit 4: prize money for winners
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Management Rohtak, from December 2023 to March 2024. Copying or posting is an infringement of
copyright.
Exhibit 5: Scoring Rules
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Management Rohtak, from December 2023 to March 2024. Copying or posting is an infringement of
copyright.
Exhibit 6: Leader board of MI Vs DC match held on 15th October
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Exhibit 7: Table of players, their points, teams, credits and selection percentage
Player Team Player Name Credit Selection Accumulat
Category percentage ed points

Wicket Keeper DC R Pant 8.5 27.89 492

Wicket Keeper DC A Carey 8.5 0.95 62

Wicket Keeper MI Q Kock 10 73.17 840

Wicket Keeper MI I Kishan 9 65.86 664

Wicket Keeper MI A Tare 7.5 0.73 0

Batsman DC S Dhawan 10 69.17 851

Batsman DC S Iyer 9 54.77 640

Batsman DC P Shaw 8 3.07 363

Batsman DC A Rahane 8.5 19.53 193

Batsman DC S Hetmyer 8 55.69 310

Batsman MI R Sharma 9.5 46.77 416

Batsman MI S Yadav 9 76.83 699

Batsman MI C Lynn 9 0.76 0

Batsman MI H Pandya 9 51.45 440

Batsman MI S Rutherford 8 0.29 0

Batsman MI S Tiwari 8 1.05 153

Batsman MI A Singh 8 0.28 0

All Rounder DC M Stoinis 9.5 85.39 809

All Rounder DC A Patel 8.5 23.82 492

All Rounder DC D Sams 8 0.8 28

All Rounder DC K Paul 8 0.39 0

All Rounder DC L Yadav 7.5 0.53 0

All Rounder MI K Pollard 8.5 49.68 536

All Rounder MI K Pandya 8 33.74 365

All Rounder MI A Roy 8 0.62 0

Bowler DC K Rabada 9.5 78.31 925

Bowler DC A Nortje 9 34.45 583

Bowler DC R Ashwin 8.5 37.52 435

Bowler DC H Patel 8 0.84 120

Bowler DC T Deshpande 8 0.68 110

 Bowler DC M Sharma 8 0.37 23

Bowler DC A Khan 8 0.16 0

Bowler DC S Lamichhane 8 0.14 0

Bowler DC P Dubey 7.5 12.08 21

Bowler DC I Sharma 8.5 17.16 4

Bowler DC A Mishra 8.5 21.36 97

Bowler MI J Bumrah 9.5 84.72 792

Bowler MI T Boult 9 69.57 664

Bowler MI R Chahar 8.5 22.12 463

Bowler MI J Pattinson 8.5 1.87 324

Bowler MI N Coulter Nile 8 15.44 130

Bowler MI J Yadav 8 0.16 6

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Bowler MI D Kulkarni 8 0.19 7

Bowler MI M Khan 8 0.14 0

Bowler MI D Deshmukh 7.5 0.48 0

Bowler MI P rai 7.5 0.41 0

Bowler MI M 8 0.2 0
Mcclenaghan

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Management Rohtak, from December 2023 to March 2024. Copying or posting is an infringement of
copyright.