A bad series for me. Also.

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.