Should points scored by players in a match that has been rained off, count? i certainly don't think so. i think it's unfair. cause that's what happened with me and deprived me of my rightful third place, and prize, in my office league. i say something is 'not right in the pulses.' what say you?

Just today, I got rid of Stuart Broad from my fantasy side for the England v South Africa ODI at Trent Bridge. And look what he ends up doing to SA and yours truly. Only goes to show, as Lawrence Booth said, making predictions is a mug's game.

I mean, what were the odds of Stuart Broad running through the South African top order? After his insipid bowling displays in the Test series, next to nil if you asked me. I had Harmison in my team. I had Flintoff. I had Collingwood. I even had Prior. On past performance, they all stood a better chance of returning with a good performance than Broad. But it was not to be.

Well, as they say, that's how the cookie crumbles. Alongwith my chances of making major progress with my fantasy team. In other words, business as usual.

Don't forget to rejig your fantasy teams for the England v South Africa ODIs commencing today. More all rounders, new faces and whole new set of transfers to help you get your combinations spot on. It's not going to be easy. But that's what makes it all the more engrossing. Right? Right.

And to help you make up your mind, here's the preview for today's match at Headingley. Just so you know who among the injury-prone is in and who's not. For starters, Sidebottom is out. Again.

So I was talking to Mr. Name Withheld (NW) about whether India will get thrashed again and what an ideal fantasy team should be before tomorrow's match. Is it time to bet on Mendis as your Trump? And how many transfers should you waste now? Is it ok to lose all and make a team for the remaining ODIs? And that stopped me in my tracks. Why on earth would you want to be me and use up all your transfers after one ODI? Let's see

NW: how many transfers should u waste now..
NW: is it ok to lose all and make a team for all the reamining ODIs..
avi subu: is it?
NW: I am just tossing ideas...
NW: u see what makes sense..
avi subu: am asking
avi subu: what do you think?
NW: I think its ok....
avi subu: do you have a tream?
avi subu: why is it ok?
NW: ya, but not updated for ages..
avi subu: there are 4 odis to go
avi subu: why is it ok to use up all fuve transfersa?
NW: just to be done with the worry of updating everyday!
avi subu: but that's not good fantasy strategy
NW: who said I am a fantasy guru!
avi subu: but this is fantasy post
avi subu: if you say it, one has to back it up, no
avi subu: we have a serious fantasy audience
NW: hmmmm....
NW: maybe serious , but we can just put the context...let them comment..
avi subu: because i am going to put this conversation on the fantasy blog

And I did. What do you think?

Just a quick reminder to all of you who haven't yet put together a ODI fantasy team, or two, for the upcoming ODIs between India and Sri Lanka, the first match starts tomorrow. And your time to get together a fantasy team for the match runs out 30 minutes before the official start time.

As you're probably aware, you get a fresh set of 6 transfers to play around with during the ODIs. Use them well. And now, I'm off to take another look at my team. My gut feeling is it's not going to be such a great series for Ajantha Mendis. In other words, a pretty good one for Yuvraj? We'll see.

It's a bright, sunny day. The sky is the perfect shade of 'cricket-blue, the kind that commentators love to refer to. The kind that a batsman looks forward to. The kind that come with good batting wickets. And the kind on which Harmison might be asked to bowl the first ball of his return to the English team. What will he serve up this time?

Fortunately for Harmison, this is a home series. Unfortunately for him, that also means his favourite excuse for an erratic performance is no longer available. England are one down in a four Test series. Only two more to go. This is not what England might have expected after dominating the opening exchanges of the first Test. Thoroughly.

But now, come Edgbaston, Smith might win the toss for the third time in three matches. Since there's a good chance that this will happen on a day with the 'cricket blue' kind of skies batsmen love, he will bat. Vaughan, on the other hand, will have at his disposal Sidebottom, Flintoff, Broad Anderson and Harmison. On paper, it looks like a good attack in which one of the five mentioned are going to have to sit out. At the time of starting this piece, I didn't expect Steve Harmison to be benched. Now, I see that he's not likely to be drafted into the playing XI.

Perhaps it's going to be a good batting wicket and England don't want to go into the match with their wicket-keeper Ambrose batting any higher than number 8. Optimistic fantasy players and eagerly waiting fans looking to take a punt on Harmison, again, will have to wait for the next Test match to see how the tall, temperamental fast bowler copes. This time.

I of course have no use for these fresh permutations and combinations. As regular readers of this blog already are aware, I'm out of transfers for the rest of the Test series. Here's hoping you're not. Knowing England's penchant for a 'horses for courses' policy, the always present possibility of another 'Flintoff breakdown' and the inevitability of final Test call up for Harmison, it looks a shrewd move to save a transfer or two for the fourth and final Test match.

PS: Even more sorrowful news for people like me who are left with no option but to go into the Test with the same team, there might be a change or more in the South African side. Graeme Smith may not play. England will not mind that because the inspirational Smith's absence will do no harm to the home side's chances of winning the third Test and the likelihood of a classic final game climax in the fourth at The Oval next week.

Not floods and pestilence. Not corruption and inefficiency. Not drought and farmer suicides. Not another day of life in a country that only knows how to go on. Because life must … go on. But it needn't, always, without acknowledging some of the things that matter, just a wee bit more. Like the serial bombings in Bangalore and Ahmedabad.

Never before in the history of independent India have two major cities been hit in such a massive way in such quick succession. There was Hyderabad. There was New Delhi. There was Mumbai. There have been bomb blasts before. But there's something different about this time.

I was travelling by the Brindavan Express from Bangalore to Chennai enjoying a packet of chips and a cup of sweet coffee trying to log on to the net from my Tata Indicomm portable net connection without much success when, in the middle of a rare period of slow connectivity, I was 'pinged' by a friend of mine on chat - who, oddly enough, happened to be in China - with the news that the city I had just left behind had been crippled by fear, panic and more than a handful of explosions. In a moment of inappropriate levity, I felt like a terrorist fleeing from the scene of the crime.

Tasteless jokes apart, the incidents didn't touch me all that much. I had seen worse. I had been in Mumbai in 1992. Besides, this was happening while Murali and Mendis were crippling another 'India' at the SSC, Colombo. Already stunned by the events in Sri Lanka, I found it hard to muster an appropriate reaction to the 'Bangalore blasts'. (Besides, the news channels did say the blasts were of a 'low intensity'.) The only logical thought of some seriousness I managed being Chennai was likely to be next on the radar. How wrong I was.

The Indian second innings is what was next. And Ahmedabad. Now, after two 'Indias' have been laid waste by the twin terrors of Murali and Mendis at the SSC and, allegedly, the 'Islamic Mujahadeen' in Ahmedabad, one is again left wondering how one is supposed to react.

Does it matter that India were not good enough for Sri Lanka? Does it matter that I picked the extremely limited, LOTR-sounding opener, Vandort (not Voldermont) for my fantasy team and he let me down? Does it matter that The XI Downing Streets' performance so far has been less than inspiring? Does it matter that I need to ring in a few transfers before the start of the next match now that I know what some of the 'value picks' from Sri Lanka are capable of? Does it matter that thanks to the Jayawerdene, Dilshan, Murali, Mendis and Vaas also being IPL stars for Indian city teams, the thrashing doesn't hurt all that much? Does it matter that a cricket Test match I had primed myself to watch for over five days left me high and dry with a foregone conclusion in less than two and a half? Does it matter that Harbhajan, Kumble, Sachin, Dravid, Sehwag and the rest of the Indian stars need to start taking Test cricket a little more seriously?

Does it matter that the world's largest democracy has been shaken by a series of explosions so disturbing it leaves even someone as self-absorbed, cynical, insensitive, stone-hearted and desensitized as you awake to the magnitude of the event, even if only momentarily? Perhaps one ought to bring out a black armband or two to express one's condolences.

Right then, this post was written wearing a black armband to protest against the barrage of terrorist bombings in India. And double-digit inflation.

Just so the comments don't get too far ahead of themselves (and 'entries'), this one post to keep things neck and neck.

Entry number 21 (Take that comment number 22!): Thankfully, there's more to this than just one-upmanship. Like what is India going to do today with their tottering first innings and the daunting prospect of a second innings following on against the twin menace of Mendis and Murali and - as one of Captain's readers so incredulously asked - why I have Mendis in my fantasy side instead of Murali?

Even a brass monkey will tell you that at the SSC, Murali has more wickets than is humanly possible for a bowler to take. Only an ignorant fool will choose not to pencil in the old pro in his own backyard, the SSC? No Murali and Mendis? Brave. No Murali? Incredible.

First things first, why not both: Simple rule of mouse for fantasy players and captains in a Sri v Anyone series in what looks like the start of fortress Serendib (old name for Sri Lanka): When in Sri Lanka, pack your fantasy side with the best of Sri Lanka. Then, curse the 'not more than 'X' number of players from one country' rule. Then, pick up the best of India. Then, curse your limited budget. Then, that's why I have Mendis in my side instead of Murali. And not both. I had limited _FMs to play with. I had to make an 'either Mendis or Murali' punt. And I got it wrong in the first innings. But the game is not up. There's still the second half. Mendis might still bag me a hat-full of wickets.

Then, looking at the way Mendis is shaping, it's always going to be the threat of a 'one-two' Sri Lankan knock-out from now on, whenever any side plays them. Especially in Sri Lanka. What with their batsmen never looking like getting out on their home wickets and, now, with two 'magic' bowlers in their side, it's Sri Lanka - not India - which promises to be the next 'final frontier' for overseas sides. Question: Which side in the world looks most likely to beat Sri Lanka at home?

Until yesterday, I thought it was India. If the old pros in the Indian side can help it might still be. Sachin, Sourav, Rahul, Laxman ... even though, India doesn't have a great record when called upon to bat out of their skins to save a Test match, would it be too much to expect four great batsmen who have a combined aggregate of over 30,000 runs to unravel the spin conundrums being posed by the wizardry of Murali and Mendis? In Sri Lanka, at the SSC ... maybe.

No, you cannot change your team just because the start of this Test match has been delayed by rain and a wet outfield. There are better things to do with your time when such natural disasters strike and lay waste to your carefully planned day. Like watching more cricket.

Yes, you have time on your hands. Yes, a day's play lost to rain is a massive hole in what otherwise seemed like a mighty promising day ahead. And yes there are always other games of cricket being shown on at least two or three other channels on the television. After all, in India the cricket never stops.

So please, for the sake of your wellness, happiness quotient and future of your fantasy team, don't make any hasty changes, no matter what you do - from now till the end of this Test match - it'll will not make any difference to the fortunes of your team.

Regular readers of this blog will have by now realised I am dishing out these pearls of wisdom on fantasy team management only after having learnt them the hard way during the ongoing 'Eng v South Africa' fantasy edition of the series; in which I made a horrible mess of a 'settled' and winning combination.

Then it's decided, when in doubt, when you have free time on your hands, when you're having a harebrained thought, don't make any team changes. Just change the channel.

8. 00 am (IST): Sold Rohit Sharma.
8. 01 am (IST): Bought Rohit Sharma.
8. 02 am (IST): Sold Rohit Sharma.
8. 03 am (IST): Bought Rohit Sharma.
8. 04 am (IST): Sold Rohit Sharma.
8. 05 am (IST): Bought Rohit Sharma.
8. 06 am (IST): Sold Rohit Sharma.
8. 07 am (IST): Bought Rohit Sharma.
8. 08 am (IST): Sold Rohit Sharma.
8. 10 am (IST): Took a deep breath and thanked my stars I still have unlimited transfers. (But not for long.)

At 10.15 am (ST) the first Test between South Asia's two biggest teams will commence. And at 10.00 am (IST) a world of unlimited transfers will cease to exist. After 10.00 am (IST) today, you'll have to buy and sell players carefully. Not like I've been bumbling through the last 10 minutes. Which brings us back to the issue of Rohit Sharma. Buy? Sell? Hold?

8.15 am (IST): Sold Rohit Sharma
8.17 am (IST): Bought Vandort.

I think the Sri Lankan opening batsman, Vandort has a better chance of playing all the Test matches than Rohit Sharma. The 'old firm' of Sourav, Sachin and Laxman are too well entrenched for Rohit Sharma to stand much of a chance of breaking into the middle order. (Not just yet.) His time will come. Very soon.

The XI Downing Streets as at (23rd July, 8.17 am, IST):
MG Vandort
LPC Silva
TM Dilshan
DPMD Jayawardene *TP
SR Tendulkar
V Sehwag
KC Sangakkara
BAW Mendis
Z Khan
I Sharma
Harbhajan Singh

So here's what I've just been told: I have a fresh set of 5 transfers still left to use during the ODIs in the current Eng v SA series. And here I was under the mistaken impression that I had exhausted all my transfers. Actually, I have, but only for the Tests. I've just been under the mistaken impression that six transfers is the limit for the whole series. It is, but only for Tests. Shouldn't there be a little more flexibility?

For instance, shouldn't I be given the option to use my ODI transfers during the Test series if I want to? I need to. I've got no transfers left. There's 2 more Test matches to go. Sidebottom is going to be back. Given the workload he's being saddled with, Flintoff might break down. (Again) Now that the second Test is over and done with. Ntini might be dropped. Nel could come in. And I can't do a fig about any of all this important chopping and changing. But as a committed fantasy player I should be allowed to, no?

So here's what I'm asking myself, and you, why can't I use just one or two transfers from my ODI quota to inject some much needed life into my Test fantasy team? Can not desperate, unskilled, careless players like me be given the leeway to?

In other significant news about this blog: We just crossed an important milestone today. For about an hour - until this post went up - Fantasy Post had more comments than entries. Thank you.

1.45 pm, July 19th: More than 75% of the series to go and only 1 transfer left in my bag to play around with. Obviously, this isn't the best way to play fantasy cricket. How did things come to such a sorry pass?

1.47 pm, July 19th: At the beginning of the series, in fact, at the end of day 1 of the first Test between these two intensely competitive sides, a certain gent we know was at the top of the standings of the fantasy league organised in his office. From then on, things have been all downhill.

Transfer 1: What on earth possessed me to sell Pieterson on th second day of the first Test? An erroneous belief that the Trump player could be changed for every day of the Test match. And an irrational conclusion that KP was not likely to do much for the rest of the series.

Transfer 2: It's a good thing players can be bought and sold rather easily. On second thoughts, it's not. It only means I ended up wasting one transfer to sell and buy back KP. Along the way, I also bought Smith. But the whole maneuver cost me two precious transfers for nothing. (People like me should be shackled.)

A few furrowed brows and 3 transfers down the line: The simple realisation dawns that to play the game properly one must have a good grasp of the rules. Or else, one ends up wasting a whole lot of buying and selling for nothing.

Transfer 3, first Test: Flintoff is expected to return for the second Test. Right. (There goes another transfer.) That means 3 transfers down before the second Test has commenced.

Transfer 4, first Test: Why didn't I have Sidebottom in my original team? I need him for the second Test. Let's buy Sidebottom. He's definitely worth his transfer price in gold.

Flashback to 2 minutes after buying Sidebottom: Sidebottom is likely to be ruled out of the second Test. And that means another transfer, my fourth, wasted. Of course, I could have saved myself the 'Sidebottom transfer' by waiting till 35 minutes before the commencement of the second Test. And of course I didn't.

Transfer 5: Somewhere along the rocky road my team currently finds itself in, I lost Stuart Broad, picked up Hoggard and left myself with a solitary transfer and a handful of straws to clutch at. Only to have the England selectors bring Pattinson in out of nowehere. Like I said, this fantasy campaign has gone down the tubes. Very quickly. (To think it started so promisingly.)

Moral of the story: 6 transfers are far from adequate for such an important and uncertain series. Especially, if you happen to be a bit of a 'trigger hippie'. Must launch a 'comment campaign' to redress this anomaly.