Jayasuriya and Marsh make fantasy XIs

Welcome to Stars Wars, our celebrity fantasy league, where Ian Chappell, David Lloyd, Sanjay Manjrekar and Cricinfo's editor, Sambit Bal, will fight it out to see who will emerge with the most successful IPL team.

The franchises have spent their money buying up players and now our celebrities are dipping into the talent pool to pick their own XIs. Wondering who to pick as trump in your fantasy team? Chappell and Lloyd have gone with the hard-hitting Sanath Jayasuriya, while Manjrekar picked New Zealand opener Jesse Ryder. Shaun Marsh, last year's top run-getter in the IPL, makes it to Chappell's and Manjrekar's teams, while Lloyd goes with the exciting David Warner, who smashed 89 off 43 balls in his debut Twenty20.

The tournament has moved to South Africa but only our editor has remembered to pick a local bowler, who could have the upper hand in familiar conditions - Albie Morkel. However, remember, these are not their final teams before the IPL starts on April 18: the rules of the fantasy league allow unlimited transfers till the tournament's beginning. So keep an eye out for tweaks.

Chappell, whose team is called Godfathers, said picking the team was mainly a matter of selecting players likely to be high point-scorers and squeezing them into the budget. "I also took into consideration players who are most likely to succeed in the conditions and be available on a consistent basis. The key players are those who are most likely to score points in all departments of the game," Chappell said.

Lloyd said he was looking for batsmen who dealt in boundaries. "A real punt for me is van der Merwe. I do not know anything about him. I opted for three bowlers in Murali Kartik, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh. They are all experienced."