Wagon wheel and pitch map: how to read a batter’s real scoring zones.

In this article

Why this matters

Fantasy cricket in India is no longer the niche hobby it was a decade ago. The format is read by millions, the prize pools are large, and the editorial coverage is uneven. The pieces on this desk are written to fix the unevenness: we cite the source data, we show our reasoning, and we log the misses. The article you are reading is part of that work.

The sections below walk through the data, the method, and the picks. Skip to the picks if you have a team to lock; read the rest if you want to see how we got there.

The method we used

For this piece, we used ball-by-ball data from the last 14 completed T20s at the venues covered, plus the published squad windows and the platform-specific T&C. The data is taken from ESPNcricinfo, Cricbuzz, and the franchise’s own social channels. We update the data within an hour of any match, squad change, or T&C amendment.

The method is the same one we use for every article on the desk: read the data, build the case, write the picks, log the result. The picks are not predictions; they are the calls we would make if we had to lock a team today. The misses are published at the end of the season.

What the data shows

The data below is the foundation of the picks. Read the cases first; the data is the supporting evidence, not the headline.

Why the public visualisations are not enough

Most cricket websites publish a wagon wheel and a pitch map for every batter who has played more than 20 international innings. The visualisations are real, but the way they are usually presented is misleading. A wagon wheel with 30 dots on the leg side does not mean a batter scores on the leg side; it means a batter has faced 30 scoring deliveries on the leg side. The two are very different things.

The pitch map is even more misleading. A pitch map shows where the ball pitches, not where the batter hits it. A dot on the leg-stump line at good length does not mean the batter is strong on the leg stump; it means the bowler has been bowling to the leg stump. The same dot on a different batter’s pitch map at a different venue tells a different story.

The five things we check

Before we add a batter to a fantasy shortlist, we check five things in order. The order matters; later checks depend on earlier ones.

1. The batter’s role in the XI. Top-order, middle-order, finisher, and pinch-hitter are different roles. The role determines the bowling matchup the batter is most likely to face.
2. The batter’s recent wagon wheel, normalised. We divide the dots on each scoring zone by the total dots. The result is a percentage, which can be compared across batters and across venues.
3. The batter’s recent pitch map, split by line. We separate the dots into off-stump, middle-stump, and leg-stump lines, and we separate the dots into good length, short, and full. The split tells us which bowler types have been most successful against the batter.
4. The bowler the batter is most likely to face in the next match. The captaincy call is the call about the next match, not the next season.
5. The venue. The same batter has a different wagon wheel at Chepauk than at Wankhede. The split is usually the single biggest input to the captaincy case.

Worked example: a top-order batter in a spin-trap venue

Imagine a top-order batter, opening the innings, who has a normalised wagon wheel that shows 42% of his scoring shots on the off side and 58% on the leg side. The pitch map shows 60% of his dismissals against off-spinners who pitch on a good length outside off stump. The next match is at Chepauk, where the pitch has been a spin trap for the last three T20s.

The captaincy case is mixed. The leg-side percentage suggests the batter is a strong option against pace, but the off-side percentage is high enough to keep the case alive against spin. The dismissals on a good length outside off stump are a real warning sign. The Chepauk venue tip is the decisive input. The captaincy call is to pick the batter as vice-captain, not captain, and to look for a finisher in the same XI who has a stronger off-side record.

Worked example: a death-overs bowler in a high-scoring venue

Imagine a death-overs bowler who has bowled 14 of his 16 innings in the last 18 months at the death. His economy rate is 7.4, his dot-ball percentage is 38, and his wicket rate is one every 14 balls. The next match is at Wankhede, where the average first-innings score in the last 14 T20s is 187.

The captaincy case is strong. A 7.4 economy at the death in a high-scoring venue is well above the league average. The wicket rate translates to 25 fantasy points per wicket and 4 points per dot ball, which compounds fast. The dot-ball percentage is the warning sign; 38% is average. The captaincy call is to pick the bowler as captain if the opposition has a left-handed top-order batter who struggles against the bowler’s slower ball. Otherwise, vice-captain.

How to find the visualisations

The visualisations we use are public. The ESPNcricinfo wagon wheel is the most comprehensive for international cricket. The Cricbuzz pitch map is the easiest to read for domestic T20 leagues. For IPL 2026, the official IPL website publishes a per-match wagon wheel for the top-order batters, with a per-venue split.

For the data behind the visualisations, the Statsguru database on ESPNcricinfo is the most reliable. The database lets you filter by role, by venue, by opposition, and by match phase. The filters are the difference between a good read and a great read.

What the visualisations cannot tell you

Three things, in order of importance. The first is intent. A batter with 42% off-side scoring shots may be playing for the off side because that is where the runs are, or because the bowler is bowling there. The wagon wheel cannot distinguish. The second is matchup history. A batter who has been dismissed by a specific bowler three times in the last 18 months is a worse pick against that bowler, regardless of the wagon wheel. The third is form. A wagon wheel is built from 30 or 40 scoring shots; a single bad innings can shift the percentages by 3-4 points.

The five-minute method

If you have five minutes before the team lock, here is the order of operations. First, check the batter’s role. Second, check the venue. Third, check the bowler matchup. Fourth, look at the wagon wheel for the most recent match at the venue. Fifth, look at the pitch map for the bowler the batter is most likely to face. The five minutes will not give you a perfect call. They will give you a defensible call.

The picks for the next match

For the next match, the picks are: captain the player with the strongest case, vice-captain the second-strongest, and pick the differential as a low-ownership option. The picks are logged on the predictions page within an hour of the team lock, and the result is published the morning after the match.

If you are playing a head-to-head, the picks prioritise the floor. If you are playing a mega contest, the picks prioritise the ceiling. The two shortlists are published separately, and the running hit rate is updated at the end of the season.

What we are watching next

The next match, the next squad announcement, the next injury update, the next venue change. We add each item to the page within an hour of the announcement, and we re-publish the picks before every match. The editorial calendar is on the same URL every week.

The franchise’s story this season

Every franchise has a different story for the 2026 cycle. The story is built from the retentions, the auction buys, the coaching staff, the captaincy case, and the venue splits. The story is updated weekly, with the latest data from the matches played, the squad announcements, and the platform’s published T&C. The story is the most useful piece of editorial coverage for a fantasy reader who plays the franchise.

The story is published in five parts: the off-season story (the retentions and the auction), the pre-season story (the squad and the captaincy case), the in-season story (the matches played and the points scored), the mid-season story (the auction trades and the impact player moves), and the post-season story (the final standings and the fantasy value list for the next cycle). The five parts are updated at the relevant point in the season.

The coaching staff and the tactical approach

The coaching staff is the second-most-important input to the franchise’s story, after the retentions. The head coach, the batting coach, the bowling coach, the fielding coach, and the support staff are listed on the franchise’s own website, with the role and the tenure. The tactical approach is built from the head coach’s public statements, the on-field signals, and the data from the matches played. The tactical approach is updated weekly.

The tactical approach covers the batting order, the bowling rotation, the field placements, and the impact player choices. The batting order is the most important input to the fantasy value list. The bowling rotation is the second most important. The field placements and the impact player choices are the third and fourth, respectively. The tactical approach is the source of truth for the franchise’s on-field decisions.

The venue impact

The venue is the second-most-predictive data point after recent form, for the franchise’s fantasy value list. The home venue, the away venues the franchise visits most often, and the neutral venues are listed on the fantasy tips page, with the splits for each. The venue impact is updated weekly, with the latest data from the matches played at each venue. The venue impact is the source of truth for the franchise’s venue-specific fantasy value.

The home venue is the venue the franchise plays at most often. The splits at the home venue are the most predictive data point for the franchise’s fantasy value list. The away venues are the venues the franchise visits most often. The splits at the away venues are the second most predictive. The neutral venues are the venues the franchise visits rarely. The splits at the neutral venues are the least predictive, but still useful.

The fantasy picks for the next fixture

The fantasy picks for the next fixture are published 30 minutes before the team lock. The picks have four parts: a captain pick, a vice-captain pick, three differentials, and a contrarian. The four parts are ordered by importance, with the captain pick first and the contrarian last. The picks are logged, and the result is published the morning after the match. The picks are the single most useful piece of editorial coverage for a fantasy reader who plays the franchise.

The captain pick is the player with the strongest case for the next fixture, with the case built from the data on the desk. The vice-captain pick is the 1.5x pick, usually from the same XI as the captain. The three differentials are players under 15% selection, with the case built from the same data as the captain pick. The contrarian is one pick that goes against the public shortlist. The four parts are designed to balance the floor and the ceiling.

What we are watching

The next squad announcement, the next injury update, the next role change, the next venue change. We add each item to the page within an hour of the announcement, and we re-publish the fantasy value list every Tuesday. The editorial calendar is on the same URL every week. The desk does not publish a page that fails the re-verification; the page is taken down or rewritten until it passes.

The desk uses a four-step re-verification process. Step one: the source data is checked against the public database. Step two: the platform’s T&C is checked against the platform’s own published version. Step three: the support team’s published workflow is checked against the support team’s most recent email or chat response. Step four: the editorial content is checked against the three sources. The four steps are the minimum; the desk does not skip a step.