Selection percentage of players in the Dream11 tells you how many people have selected a particular player in their fantasy team.
Understanding the selection percentage can be a game changer and help you make a winning fantasy team.
In every match, you will see a wide range of selection percentage for the players involved in that match.
This number could be as low as 1% for some unknown players, and as high as 98-99% for the most popular players.
But what does this mean? Should you ignore all the low selection players and pick only the high selection players?
Let’s understand what selection percentage means in fantasy apps:
1. High Selection Percentage Players (70% or more selection)
- In every match, few players will have a much higher selection percentage than others. This number is around 70% or more, but can go as high as 98-99% for most popular players.
- Players with high selection percentage are usually the most popular or reliable performers for their team. In cricket it could be star batsmen or key bowlers, or top strikers in case of football.
- Such players are consistent or currently in good form, and expected by most fantasy players to deliver. These players are considered as safe picks as majority of fantasy users are selecting the same players in their team.
2. Low Selection Percentage Players (30% or less selection)
- In almost all matches, there are some players with a low selection percentage, often below 30% and going down to as low as 1-2%.
- Other fantasy users are ignoring these players due to multiple reasons. Maybe such players are not well known, out of form, or not expected to have much impact on the game.
- However, if you select a few low selection players and they perform well, it will give you a significant advantage. Very few teams would have selected these players. That’s why such players are often called differential or trump players.
3. Mid Range Selection Percentage Players (30% to 70% selection)
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- Other than popular players or trump players, you’ll notice a few players that don’t have a very high or low selection percentage. This means while these players are still popular, not everyone is convinced that they will do well in that particular match.
There are usually 2 types of players in this category:
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- a) Popular players who had a high selection percentage in earlier matches but did not perform as expected, so their selection percentage has come down for this match.
- b) Trump players who had a low selection percentage in earlier matches but ended up performing well and now more and more fantasy players are selecting these players for this match.
Why is Selection Percentage Important in Fantasy?
If you observe closely, almost every dream team combination has a mix of players from the above 3 categories.
Most commonly, you will see a team combination that looks something like this:
3-6 high selection percentage players + 3-4 trump players with less than 30% selection + 3-5 players with 30% to 70% selection percentage.
Every match will have a different combination, but you will notice there is always a mix of players with a different selection percentages like the example above.
This is very important to understand, because winning in fantasy is a game of probability.
Yes, the same probability that we were taught in school. Probability is about chance. If you really think about it, as a fantasy player, you are basically trying to improve your probability of winning against thousands of other players.
You can improve your probability to win big in fantasy by choosing players that are ignored by others and dropping some players that everyone else is selecting.
Of course the amount of risk you take depends on your strategy.
While everyone should look at selection percentages before making their fantasy team, it becomes crucial if you want to win the grand league or mega league.
Conclusion
Selection percentage is a very useful feature in Dream11 and other fantasy apps to understand how everyone else is making their team and increase your probability of creating a unique fantasy team based on your strategy.
1. Identify Popular Players: Understand which players are being picked by everyone else. These players are expected to perform well and are thought of as safe players.
2. Find Trump Players: Find trump players that are being ignored by others but might perform well. Choosing the right trump players will increase your probability of creating a winning team.
3. Create Unique Team: You can’t win big in fantasy without a unique team. Selection percentage is a great way to identify players you could drop to take calculated risks with other less picked players.