Sat,
Pune Shivneri Strikers vs Delhi Yamuna Kings
Aarav DeshmukhPSS · Top order
92
Rehan QureshiDYK · Left-arm quick
81
78%
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Fantasy tips built from local cards, not international noise
Suggested XIs, captaincy calls, form curves and pitch reports for the CricLane Metro League, the Aravalli Corporate Shield and the Backwaters Women's Cup — modelled on 31,700+ ball-by-ball cards scored since 2021. This is analysis, not betting. CricLane runs no contests and never holds a rupee of anybody's stake.
Match of the weekend ·
See the fixture
Pune Shivneri Strikers vs Delhi Yamuna Kings — the eleven we would build
Metro League semi-final, Deccan Ground, Pune, 3:00 PM IST. Second-innings scores at this ground average 14 runs lower, so the model is loading up on bowlers and on batters who bat first.
Suggested XI
96.0 of 100 credits used
| Player | Role | Club | Credits | Proj | Owned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aarav Deshmukh C | Top order | PSS | 10.5 | 92 | 71% |
| Rehan Qureshi VC | Left-arm quick | DYK | 10.0 | 81 | 58% |
| Sarthak Bhosale † | Wicketkeeper | PSS | 8.5 | 64 | 44% |
| Karan Bhatia | Top order | DYK | 9.0 | 69 | 52% |
| Omkar Jadhav | Opener | PSS | 8.0 | 61 | 39% |
| Ganesh Pawar | All-rounder | PSS | 9.0 | 73 | 47% |
| Gurmeet Chadha | All-rounder | DYK | 8.5 | 66 | 31% |
| Nitin Vaidya | Off spin | DYK | 8.5 | 68 | 36% |
| Shreyas Kulkarni | Left-arm spin | PSS | 8.5 | 70 | 28% |
| Vedant Joshi | Seam | PSS | 8.0 | 57 | 22% |
| Imran Sheikh | Medium pace | DYK | 7.5 | 49 | 18% |
C captain, points doubled VC vice-captain, points × 1.5 † wicketkeeper Proj projected CricLane fantasy points
Why Deshmukh over the obvious opener
Deshmukh bats at three, which sounds like a demotion and is in fact the reason to captain him. Across 34 Metro League innings he has faced 31 balls on average — more than either Pune opener — because he arrives in the fourth over on this ground more often than not and bats through. Captaincy points reward balls faced, not glamour.
Qureshi takes the vice-captaincy on volume rather than magic: four overs guaranteed, two of them at the death, and a season strike rate of a wicket every 14 deliveries. Both are heavily owned, which is fine — this is the safe core, and the risk goes in the differential slots.
Captaincy shortlist
Three ways to captain this game
| Option | Proj ×2 | Risk | The case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aarav Deshmukh | 184 | Low | Bats deepest, faces the most balls, and Pune bat first in 7 of their last 9. |
| Ganesh Pawar | 146 | Medium | Two ways to score. Bowls the 18th over and bats at five when Pune lose an early one. |
| Shreyas Kulkarni | 140 | High | Left-arm spin into a right-heavy Delhi middle order on a surface that grips after over 12. |
Pitch report
Deccan Ground, Pune
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Average first innings | 173 |
| Average second innings | 159 |
| Chases won | 41% |
| Spin share of wickets | 46% |
| Square boundary | 64 m |
| Matches in the sample | 218 |
Weather
Pune,
| Hour | Temp | Rain | Wind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 PM | 27°C | 20% | 14 kmph |
| 5 PM | 26°C | 35% | 18 kmph |
| 7 PM | 24°C | 55% | 21 kmph |
Late team news
Confirmed 90 minutes before the toss
Fantasy insights
All fixtures
Model-backed picks for this weekend's fixtures
Our model reads eleven seasons of local match data, ground by ground. CricLane does not run contests and never handles stakes — this is analysis, not betting.
Sat,
Jaipur Aravalli Aces vs Bengaluru Cubbon Cutters
Kabir SandhuJAA · Leg spin
88
Siddharth MenonBCC · Off spin
74
64%
Sun,
Chennai Marina Mariners vs Kochi Backwater Blasters
Devika NairKBB · Opener
95
Manav IyerCMM · Wicketkeeper
79
83%
Sat,
Meerut Willow Works XI vs Turf Nine Grounds XI
Harsh VoraMeerut · New-ball seam
84
Ritika BhallaTurf Nine · All-rounder
77
59%
Sun,
Dehradun Doon Rangers W vs Mumbai Marine Drive W
Ishita RawatDDR · All-rounder
97
Farida SaitKBB · Left-arm spin
72
71%
Sun,
CricLane Metro League final
Arjun PatilMDC · Opener
89
Shreyas KulkarniPSS · Left-arm spin
70
52%
Form and matchups
Full rankings
Who is actually in nick, and who just looks like it
Last five completed innings from the CricLane cards, plus the head-to-head numbers that decide most club T20s: this batter against this bowler, on this kind of surface.
| Batter | Club | Last 5 | Avg | SR | Avg fantasy pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aarav Deshmukh | PSS | 74, 12, 58, 41, 66* | 62.8 | 148.4 | 88 |
| Arjun Patil | MDC | 62*, 34, 9, 71, 28 | 51.0 | 155.1 | 81 |
| Devika Nair | KBB | 88, 44, 5, 61, 39 | 47.4 | 141.6 | 79 |
| Manav Iyer | MDC | 41*, 18, 52, 7, 33 | 37.8 | 162.9 | 71 |
| Yash Bhandari | AST | 31*, 46, 2, 24*, 55 | 52.7 | 171.2 | 68 |
| Karan Bhatia | DYK | 22, 63, 14, 8, 47 | 30.8 | 133.0 | 58 |
| Sanya Kulkarni | CMM-W | 54, 29, 36*, 11, 42 | 43.0 | 128.4 | 57 |
* not out SR strike rate across the five innings Window: –
| Bowler | Club | Last 5 | Wkts | Econ | Avg fantasy pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rehan Qureshi | DYK | 2/31, 5/22, 1/29, 3/18, 2/34 | 13 | 6.70 | 84 |
| Kabir Sandhu | JAA | 3/24, 2/28, 4/19, 0/41, 2/26 | 11 | 7.15 | 78 |
| Tanvi Chauhan | LGG | 4/17, 3/30, 2/22, 1/36, 1/25 | 11 | 6.50 | 76 |
| Shreyas Kulkarni | PSS | 2/21, 3/26, 3/33, 1/19, 2/28 | 11 | 6.35 | 73 |
| Siddharth Menon | BCC | 1/38, 2/24, 0/44, 3/21, 2/31 | 8 | 7.90 | 62 |
| Nitin Vaidya | DYK | 1/28, 2/25, 1/32, 2/20, 0/36 | 6 | 7.05 | 55 |
| Farida Sait | KBB-W | 4/11, 1/23, 2/18, 2/27, 0/30 | 9 | 5.45 | 70 |
Econ runs conceded per over across the five matches Only completed spells of 2 overs or more count
| Batter | Bowler | Balls | Runs | Dismissals | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aarav Deshmukh | Rehan Qureshi | 64 | 71 | 4 | 110.9 |
| Aarav Deshmukh | Nitin Vaidya | 48 | 89 | 0 | 185.4 |
| Karan Bhatia | Shreyas Kulkarni | 39 | 31 | 3 | 79.5 |
| Arjun Patil | Kabir Sandhu | 57 | 63 | 3 | 110.5 |
| Manav Iyer | Siddharth Menon | 42 | 78 | 1 | 185.7 |
| Devika Nair | Tanvi Chauhan | 36 | 27 | 3 | 75.0 |
| Yash Bhandari | Rehan Qureshi | 29 | 52 | 1 | 179.3 |
Minimum 24 balls faced for a matchup to be published Source: CricLane ball-by-ball cards, 2022 onward SR strike rate in this matchup only
Pitch and weather
Three grounds, three completely different games
Ground effects are the largest single input in the model. The same eleven players are worth wildly different points depending on where they are playing and at what time of day.
Turf
Pune
Deccan Ground — grips after over 12
Average first innings 173, second 159. Spin takes 46% of the wickets, and only 41% of chases succeed. Pick two spinners and a batter who bats first.
Dew
Gurugram
Aravalli Sports Park — the toss matters here
After 7:00 PM the ball skids on and wrist spin loses about 18% of its usual wicket share. Chasing sides have won 63% of flood-lit games. Back the second-innings batters.
58 m
Chennai
Adyar Turf — the sweep shot ground
A 58 m square boundary and a sea breeze that swings the new ball for four overs, then stops. Openers who sweep and new-ball seamers are the two profiles that score here.
Differential picks
Low-owned, high-variance, and wrong about half the time
A differential is a player the model rates well above their public ownership — usually a No. 7 who bowls, or someone whose role changed two matches ago and nobody noticed. They are low-owned for a reason. Treat them as one or two slots in a side, never as a strategy.
28%
Shreyas Kulkarni · PSS
Left-arm spin into a right-heavy Delhi middle order, on a surface that grips after over 12
22%
Vedant Joshi · PSS
Has bowled the first over in each of Pune's last six matches — powerplay wickets are worth double here
18%
Imran Sheikh · DYK
Expensive lately, but he bowls four overs every single week and volume beats economy in this format
11%
Farida Sait · KBB-W
Moved up to bat at five three games ago and took 4 for 11 in Kochi. Ownership has not caught up
The desk
Read their writing
Our tipsters, with their misses published too
Every call is timestamped before the toss and scored afterwards, win or lose. Nobody on this desk has ever hit seven in ten across a season, and we would not believe anyone who claimed it.
Vikrant Salvi
Fantasy desk · Mumbai · since 2022
148Calls
61%Hit rate
74Avg pts
Prakash Iyengar
Data & analytics · Bengaluru · since 2021
96Calls
58%Hit rate
71Avg pts
Nandita Bose
Match analysis · Kolkata · since 2023
84Calls
55%Hit rate
69Avg pts
Zoya Merchant
Grassroots desk · Pune · since 2022
52Calls
51%Hit rate
64Avg pts
| # | Tipster | Calls | Hit rate | Avg pts | Best call | Worst call |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vikrant Salvi | 148 | 61% | 74 | Devika Nair C, 142 pts | Imran Sheikh C, 6 pts |
| 2 | Prakash Iyengar | 96 | 58% | 71 | Tanvi Chauhan VC, 128 pts | Karan Bhatia C, 9 pts |
| 3 | Nandita Bose | 84 | 55% | 69 | Ishita Rawat C, 136 pts | Siddharth Menon C, 11 pts |
| 4 | Zoya Merchant | 52 | 51% | 64 | Farida Sait VC, 119 pts | Yash Bhandari C, 4 pts |
| 5 | CricLane model v4 | 610 | 49% | 61 | Rehan Qureshi C, 131 pts | Nitin Vaidya C, 3 pts |
A call counts as a hit only if the named player finishes top 3 for points in that match Season window: – Nobody on this desk is paid per click or per conversion
Points explainer
How the CricLane projection is scored
Our projections use one consistent T20 scoring template so that a pick can be compared across competitions. Real platforms differ — always read the scoring page of whichever one you use.
| Event | Points | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Run scored | +1 | Per run |
| Boundary four | +1 | On top of the runs |
| Six | +2 | On top of the runs |
| Half-century | +8 | Once per innings |
| Century | +16 | Replaces the fifty bonus |
| Duck (batter) | -2 | Not applied to bowlers at 10 or 11 |
| Wicket | +25 | Run-outs excluded |
| Three-wicket haul | +4 | Cumulative with four and five |
| Five-wicket haul | +12 | The biggest single swing in the game |
| Maiden over | +12 | Rare in club T20 — worth chasing |
| Catch | +8 | Any fielder |
| Stumping | +12 | Keeper only |
| Run out (direct) | +12 | +6 if assisted |
| Economy under 5.00 | +6 | Minimum 2 overs bowled |
| Economy over 11.00 | -6 | Minimum 2 overs bowled |
| Captain | × 2 | Applied to the final total |
| Vice-captain | × 1.5 | Applied to the final total |
Strategy guides
All analysis
Long reads for people who build sides every week
Written by the desk, all based on CricLane's own ball-by-ball data from Indian club cricket. No paywalls, no premium tier, no affiliate links to any platform.
Captaincy
Stop captaining the opener: what 4,000 local T20s say about captaincy points
Vikrant Salvi ran the numbers on every CricLane T20 since 2022. The highest-scoring captaincy pick is a role almost nobody selects.
Match analysis
Why Metro League chases keep collapsing between overs 14 and 17
Sides lose 2.3 wickets in that four-over window, nearly double the powerplay rate. For fantasy it means one thing: own the bowlers who bowl overs 15 to 18.
Selection
The 88-credit side: why spending everything on two stars keeps losing
Nandita Bose rebuilt 300 reader teams under a credit cap. Sides that spent under 92 credits and bought two extra bowlers finished higher, more often.
Responsible play
Read this before you use a single tip on this page
Everything here is opinion built on public match data. It is not a prediction, not a guarantee, and not financial advice.
- Fantasy insights are analysis, not betting. CricLane runs no contests, accepts no stakes, holds no user money and takes no commission from any gaming platform. We are a scoring and community company.
- No outcome is guaranteed. Our best tipster hits about six calls in ten across a season, and the raw model manages under five. A single injury at the toss can undo an entire card.
- 18+ only. Real-money fantasy platforms are for adults. If you are under 18, use these pages to learn the game and nothing else.
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- We are not affiliated with any fantasy platform. No affiliate links, no referral codes, no paid placements on this page, ever.
Common questions
About the CricLane fantasy desk
No. CricLane publishes statistical analysis and player-form insights only. We do not run contests, do not accept stakes, do not hold user money and take no commission from any platform. Everything on this page is opinion built on public match data.
No, and anybody who tells you otherwise is selling something. Our best-performing tipster hits roughly six calls in ten across a season. A pitch dries differently, a captain bats out of position, a key player pulls out at the toss — the model cannot see any of that.
Only adults aged 18 and over, and skill-based real-money gaming is restricted or prohibited in several Indian states including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Assam, Odisha, Nagaland and Sikkim. Check the law where you live before you play anywhere, and never treat entry fees as an investment.
From the ball-by-ball cards scored by club officials on the free CricLane scorer app — over 31,700 matches since 2021 across 38 cities. Nothing is scraped from a paid feed and no private information about a player is used.
The model reruns every night at 2:00 AM IST and again 90 minutes before each toss, because that is when the playing eleven is usually confirmed to the scorer. Late team-sheet changes are marked on the card with the time they landed.
A player the model rates well above their public ownership — usually a No. 7 who bowls, or a bowler who opens the innings in one competition and bats at nine in another. Differentials carry more risk by definition: they are low-owned for a reason, and roughly half of ours fail.
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