And that brings us to the end of an eventful India v England 2008 series. A very close series it may not have been between the two teams on the field, but not so in the race for the fantasy standings. Shown below are the top 3 fantasy team managers and teams for the series. Congratulations Guys and, as I've often requested, I urge you to share some of your fantasy picking secrets with us. Until the next series, thank you for playing and contributing to a most exciting fantasy series.

Top 3 managers, their teams and final points tally:
1. Rajeswaran_Super_Kings whenwilliwin2 with 8583 points
2. andysith Glorias light entertainers with 8349 points
3. hbkjj4u HBK11 with 8249 points

India v England - Today's top 3
Apoc: Nebuchadnezzar: 2316
The_Hit_Squad: English Charm: 2162
coolsuhas: Humka yeh match jeetna hi hoga: 2158

New Zealand v West Indies - Today's top 3
parthii08: nzy: 1582
Ossieruledfootball: OSGOODWASGOOD: 1553
GilokingofSpain: Gayle Forcast: 1538

A quick piece of advise: Check out the top performers' teams because tomorrow is the last day of both Test matches. After that, it'll be time once again to ring in the transfers. So a few tips from the leading teams will prove quite useful.

Speaking of the top fantasy team managers, only Apoc has managed to hold his, or her, place at the top of the Test match standings. Obviously, he, or she, got pretty lucky. If you ask me, luck, more than anything else, plays a massive role in fantasy cricket.

As always, feel free to disagree with me. (At your own peril.)

The squads for the two Tests to be played in Chennai and Mohali respectively have been announced today. It's time then to ring in the transfers. You've got till December 10th to finalise your fantasy teams. Good luck and do make it a point to check out the latest from the series home page. Adios.

PS: Keep in mind that England are a lot better at Test match cricket than ODIs. One thing for sure, the English bowlers will be a lot more effective in the longer version of the game. It's important that you factor that in when rejigging your fantasy teams.

A quick note to congratulate the top names on the leaderboard at the end of the ODI stage. Those of you, including yours truly, who haven't got things quite so right during the first stage of this rather one-sided ODI series might want to study how these top dogs have gone about the business of staying ahead of the pack. It might help us all return with a better performance during the Tests. Until England return, and let's hope they do, thanks for playing and watch this space.

Click here to find out what you should do with your fantasy teams. (If you ask me, now might be a good time to give this game a rest and focus on the other two on-going ones.) It's been a hard series for those of you who placed their faith in England. (I did.) Until the next time we meet, which will be as soon as the teams announce their squads for the two Test matches, do spare a thought for the hapless victims caught up in the terror attacks in Mumbai. Talk to you soon.

Those of you with teams that have performed as badly as England have (yes, it is possible), here's your chance to salvage some pride. Do check out the series home page so you're in the know about the possible changes both teams are likely to ring in for the 5th ODI and can get your transfers right. Dhoni did say some of the others who haven't had a chance to play will get a look-in.

And what about the English squad? Well, God knows what they're going to do to better their performance so far. All that said, I know what I need to do: think really hard before I finalise my team. After all, 'The Community Managers' too need to raise their game by a notch. Or three.

It's not just England who have performed disastrously in the first four ODIs. So have I and my Fantasy team. I've got my Trump Players wrong. I've been hit by injuries. I've chosen the wrong guys for my team. In short, my performance in this fantasy series has pretty much mirrored that of England's. This after having done so well in the Australia v India game. If you ask me, I'll say it's a combination of luck and poor preparation. (But then, you'd expect that from a losing captain, wouldn't you?)

Consider this: I picked Ryan Sidebottom for the second ODI. But all he has done for me and England in the ODIs so far is threaten to make it to the playing XI only to end up being ruled out of the entire ODI series. I suppose I ought to have followed the fortunes of the team a lot more closely by checking out the series home pages regularly. I didn't. Put simply, I took my eye off the ball. Not surprisingly, I paid for it. Dearly.

Then, I had Yuvraj down as my Trump Player for the series opener only to develop cold feet and lose faith in Mr. Inconsistent. Instead, I decided to go with Mr. Consistent, Gambhir. A safe but far from perfect choice. To make matters worse, assuming his back problem was a lot more serious than it actually turned out to be, I proceeded to drop Yuvraj from my team for the second ODI. Silly, silly me for making a mountain out of a back niggle. The rest, as they say, is history.

Now when I look at my team, I can only cringe and wonder how I got it all so very wrong. Well, like all good players, I guess everyone is entitled to a bad series. Or two. After all, as they say, form is temporary but class is permanent. Or so I hope.

Indeed, there are 3 more ODIs to go and I could still try and salvage something. But, much like England, it'll be a case of too little a little too late. I guess the only thing left for me to do is play for pride. And so, I will. I'll be back with my team for the next ODI. Until then, feel free to share fantasy strategies with me. As you can see, I can do with a bit of assistance.

Dropped:
Yuvraj
Bell
Broad
Harmison
Anderson

Picked:
Raina
Sidebottom
Bopara
Collngwood
Munaf Patel
Yusuf Pathan
Rohit Sharma
Gambhir (TP)
Prior
Flintoff
Zaheer Khan

Let's play!

Have you put together your fantasy team? If not, you still have a bit of time and loads of information to help you arrive at your set of choices. Time now for me to go and do just that. I'll be back in a day or three to share my picks with you. Until then, ciao.

PS: Couldn't wait for a day or three, so here's my Fantasy team for the first ODI. Come on, talk to me.

The Community Managers:
G Gambhir
IR Bell
Yuvraj Singh *TP
RG Sharma
YK Pathan
A Flintoff
MJ Prior
JM Anderson
Z Khan
RJ Sidebottom
MM Patel

A couple of changes I've made: Gambhir is now my Trump Player. Sidebottom is gone and in comes Harmison. Also, I've dropped Anderson and drafted in Broad. Let's see how it all pans out.