Chappell seeks revenge

We are all set for the second edition of Star Wars, our celebrity fantasy league, and once again it's the quartet of Ian Chappell, David Lloyd, Sanjay Manjrekar and Cricinfo's editor Sambit Bal who will be jostling for top honours.

With 12 countries to choose from, there aren't too many common picks - Suresh Raina and AB de Villiers are the only two who appear in three teams. The high valuations of key players mean our celebrities have had to go in for a mix of high-profile and relatively unknown players. And this has added an interesting spin to the tournament.

"This looks like it might be tougher than the IPL, because of the player valuations," says Ian. "It appears to be a matter of looking for the value player and being lucky with your trump choices." Ian has gone with Ravi Bopara as his trump for the first game between England and Netherlands on Friday.

Sambit, meanwhile has decided to punt and go with Ryan ten Doeschate of Netherlands as his trump. And his team is full of power-hitters - chief among them Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle and Shahid Afridi. "This is an explosive team and I am going for broke with them. They will either be a spectacular success or a spectacular failure," reckons Sambit.

David's team, The Circus, has the maximum number of Englishmen (three) and he has gone with Graeme Swann as his trump for the first game. Sanjay, meanwhile, has put his faith in Owais Shah as trump for the opening encounter. "I've tried to pick a balanced team, staying within the budget. The key will be transfers as the tournament progresses, and who gets lucky with them and the trump," says Sanjay.

With just a day left to go it will be interesting to see what last-minute changes are made by our team owners. In the inaugural Star Wars during the IPL, it was Sambit who pipped Ian to the top spot on the last day. Ian, David and Sanjay will be keen for revenge now.