Dream team of the season — best XI, ranked by impact per rupee
Our best XI of the completed round, ranked by impact per rupee spent. Useful as a sanity-check for your own XI.
Why a dream team matters
The dream team is the editorial opinion of the desk on the best XI to pick in any given week. It does not claim to predict the optimal fantasy picks — that would require knowing which role is going to fire on a particular surface. What the dream team does is provide a sanity check for your own selection: if your XI looks nothing like the dream team, you might be missing something.
Rules we apply
- Stay inside the 100-credit budget. Leave 1-2 credits unused for flexibility.
- 1-7 players from any single franchise. Most weeks, 4-6 is the sweet spot.
- 3-4 bowlers, 4-5 batters, 1-2 all-rounders. The split depends on the venue, but the safest is 4-4-3.
- Pick the captain last. The captain pick is downstream of who else is in the side.
- Avoid picking all-overseas XI. Spread the overseas quota across picks that have a clear captaincy case.
This week's XI
The XI the desk is picking this week, with credit cost and predicted ROI per player.
| Slot | Player | Team | Credits | Predicted ROI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WK | Ishan Kishan | MI | 9 | 2.6× |
| BAT | Ruturaj Gaikwad | CSK | 10 | 3.1× |
| BAT | Yashasvi Jaiswal | RR | 10 | 2.8× |
| BAT | Suryakumar Yadav | MI | 11 | 3.84× |
| AR | Hardik Pandya | MI | 10 | 3.0× |
| AR | Andre Russell | KKR | 10 | 2.4× |
| AR | Ravindra Jadeja | CSK | 9 | 2.7× |
| BOWL | Jasprit Bumrah | MI | 11 | 3.4× |
| BOWL | Matheesha Pathirana | CSK | 9 | 2.5× |
| BOWL | Yuzvendra Chahal | RR | 8 | 2.2× |
| BOWL | Trent Boult | RR | 9 | 2.3× |
| C | Suryakumar Yadav | MI | — | 3.84× (captain) |
Bench
Four substitutes, each chosen for a specific late-game role or a defensive substitution if one of the starters is unexpectedly rested.
- Travis Head (SRH) — power-hitting differential
- Rashid Khan (GT) — middle-overs wicket-taker
- Heinrich Klaasen (SRH) — wicketkeeper-batsman
- Marcus Stoinis (LSG) — death-overs all-rounder
Rotation rules
The dream team rotates week by week. The captain pick changes most often, then the bowlers, then the batters. Each week we explain why a player has been swapped, and we list the player who dropped out.
Archive
The dream team archive runs back to the 2024 season. Each row links to the post-match report that justifies the call.
FAQs
Is the dream team free to copy?
Yes — the XI is published as a reader aid. Most platforms allow you to copy a published dream team into your fantasy account. That said, building your own is the only way to learn the format.
How often is the dream team updated?
Weekly, on Sunday evening for the next match-day week. Late news changes are reflected in the captain pick update on the captain picks page.
What about the captain pick?
The captain pick is always the highest-ROI player in the team, ranked by predicted points. The captaincy credits double their actual contribution.
Why do the same names keep coming back?
Because form is structural. A player who has 3 in-form reads rarely drops off for the season. We deliberately rotate lower-ROI players each week to keep the XI fresh.
What's the difference between the dream team and the captain picks page?
The dream team is the whole XI; the captain picks page focuses on one player per match. They are designed to be used together.
