DEV Community: Vishal Swami

How to Build a Live Line & Fantasy Cricket App with a Cricket API (India 2026)

Vishal Swami — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 07:04:00 +0000

India's cricket market is the biggest in the world. During every IPL match, crores of users are checking live scores, building fantasy teams, and actively using live line platforms. If you want to build a live line app or a fantasy cricket platform, you need a solid, fast, and reliable cricket API.

This guide covers everything you need to know.

What is a Live Line API?

A live line is a real-time cricket data feed used by odds and prediction platforms. It's not just scores — it includes:

Ball-by-ball live updates — score updated after every delivery
Session rates — how many runs in the next 5 overs
Match odds — who's winning and at what rate
Fancy markets — individual player runs, wickets, boundaries
Over/Under lines — total runs prediction markets

For live line platforms, latency is the most critical factor. If data arrives 5-10 seconds late, the platform becomes useless. CricLive API is optimized specifically for low-latency delivery.

What Does a Fantasy Cricket API Need?

1. Playing XI (Before Toss)

Fantasy users need to lock their team before the match starts. The earlier you get Playing XI data, the better. CricLive API provides Playing XI 30-60 minutes before the match — as soon as the official announcement is made.

2. Real-Time Fantasy Points

Fantasy points need to update after every ball. CricLive API automatically calculates fantasy points according to standard BCCI/ICC rules — runs, wickets, catches, stumpings, economy rate, strike rate — all included. You don't need to build your own calculation engine.

3. Live Scorecard

Ball-by-ball commentary and live scorecard — runs, wickets, overs, partnerships, fall of wickets — all in real-time.

4. Match Schedule

Upcoming matches — IPL, T20 World Cup, ODI series, Test matches, PSL, BBL — all in one place.

Getting Started

Step 1: Sign up at cricketliveapi.com/register — no credit card required.

Step 2: Copy your API key from the dashboard.

Step 3: Make your first call:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  https://cricketliveapi.com/api/v1/live-scores

Fetch Live Score — Python

import requests

API_KEY = "your_api_key_here"
BASE_URL = "https://cricketliveapi.com/api/v1"

def get_live_scores():
    response = requests.get(
        f"{BASE_URL}/live-scores",
        headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {API_KEY}"}
    )
    data = response.json()
    for match in data["data"]:
        print(f"{match['teams']} — {match['score']} ({match['overs']} ov)")

get_live_scores()

Fantasy Points — Real-Time Tracking

import requests, time

API_KEY = "your_api_key_here"
MATCH_ID = "ipl-2025-mi-vs-csk-42"

def track_fantasy_points():
    while True:
        r = requests.get(
            f"https://cricketliveapi.com/api/v1/fantasy/points/{MATCH_ID}",
            headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {API_KEY}"}
        )
        players = sorted(r.json()["players"], key=lambda p: p["fantasy_points"], reverse=True)
        print(f"\n--- Top Fantasy Scorers ---")
        for p in players[:5]:
            print(f"{p['name']:20} {p['fantasy_points']:6.1f} pts")
        time.sleep(5)  # Poll every 5 seconds

track_fantasy_points()

JavaScript — Playing XI Before Match

const API_KEY = 'your_api_key_here';
const MATCH_ID = 'ipl-2025-mi-vs-csk-42';

async function getPlayingXI() {
    const response = await fetch(
        `https://cricketliveapi.com/api/v1/fantasy/playing-xi/${MATCH_ID}`,
        { headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${API_KEY}` } }
    );
    const data = await response.json();

    console.log('Playing XI:');
    data.teams.forEach(team => {
        console.log(`\n${team.name}:`);
        team.players.forEach(p => {
            console.log(`  ${p.name} (${p.role}) — Credits: ${p.credits}`);
        });
    });
}

getPlayingXI();

Sample API Response with Fantasy Points

{
  "match_id": "IPL-2025-MI-vs-CSK-42",
  "status": "live",
  "batting_team": "Mumbai Indians",
  "score": "156/4",
  "overs": "18.2",
  "current_batsmen": [
    {
      "name": "Rohit Sharma",
      "runs": 72,
      "balls": 48,
      "fours": 8,
      "sixes": 3,
      "fantasy_points": 94
    }
  ],
  "last_ball": "6",
  "required_rate": 11.4,
  "session": {
    "label": "Next 2 overs runs",
    "line": 18.5
  }
}

Available Endpoints

Endpoint	Description
`GET /live-scores`	All live matches with scores
`GET /match/{id}/scorecard`	Full scorecard
`GET /match/{id}/commentary`	Ball-by-ball commentary
`GET /fantasy/matches`	Fantasy-ready match list
`GET /fantasy/playing-xi/{id}`	Confirmed Playing XI
`GET /fantasy/points/{id}`	Live fantasy points
`GET /fantasy/player-points/{id}`	Individual player fantasy points
`GET /contest/leaderboard/{id}`	Contest leaderboard

What Can You Build?

🏏 Fantasy Cricket App — Your own Dream11-style platform
📊 Live Line Platform — Real-time odds and session markets
📱 Cricket Score App — Fast, clean score tracker
🤖 Telegram/WhatsApp Bot — Automated score updates for fan groups
📈 Sports Analytics Tool — Deep player and team analysis

Pricing

Plan	Calls/Day	Price
Free	500	₹0
Starter	5,000	₹999/month
Pro	50,000	₹2,999/month
Enterprise	Unlimited	Custom

Why CricLive API?

✅ India-First Infrastructure — Low latency, high uptime even during IPL
✅ 500+ Series Coverage — IPL, Ranji, T20 WC, Women's cricket, PSL, BBL
✅ Fantasy Points API — Auto-calculated, Dream11-compatible, ball-by-ball
✅ Simple REST API — Works with Flutter, React Native, Android, Node.js, PHP, Python
✅ INR Pricing — No USD conversion, plans from ₹999/month
✅ Free Tier — 500 calls/day, no credit card, no expiry

Ready to build? Get your free API key at cricketliveapi.com/register — takes 2 minutes.

No credit card. No commitment. Start building your live line or fantasy cricket app today. 🏏

I Built a Free Cricket API — Here's How to Use It (Live Scores, Fantasy Points, Ball-by-Ball)

Vishal Swami — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 21:55:43 +0000

I've been building cricket apps for a while, and the biggest pain point was always finding a reliable, affordable cricket API. Most options either cost a lot, have poor documentation, or go down during IPL matches (the worst time possible).

So I built CricLive API — a cricket data API with a genuinely free tier (500 calls/day, no credit card, no expiry).

Here's everything you can do with it.

What You Get for Free

✅ Live cricket scores — real-time updates for IPL, T20, ODI, Test matches
✅ Ball-by-ball commentary — every delivery, every wicket
✅ Fantasy cricket points — Dream11-compatible, updated live
✅ Player statistics — career stats for 10,000+ players
✅ Match schedules — upcoming fixtures, playing XI, toss results
✅ ICC Rankings — live rankings for all formats

Getting Started in 2 Minutes

Step 1: Sign up at cricketliveapi.com/register — just email + password, no credit card.

Step 2: Copy your API key from the dashboard.

Step 3: Make your first API call:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  https://cricketliveapi.com/api/v1/live-scores

You'll get a JSON response like this:

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": [
    {
      "match_id": "12345",
      "teams": "India vs Australia",
      "score": "India 287/4 (48.2 ov)",
      "status": "live",
      "format": "ODI",
      "venue": "Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai"
    }
  ]
}

Python Example — Fetch Live Scores

import requests

API_KEY = "your_api_key_here"
BASE_URL = "https://cricketliveapi.com/api/v1"

def get_live_scores():
    response = requests.get(
        f"{BASE_URL}/live-scores",
        headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {API_KEY}"}
    )
    data = response.json()
    for match in data["data"]:
        print(f"{match['teams']} — {match['score']}")

get_live_scores()

JavaScript / Node.js Example

const axios = require('axios');

const API_KEY = 'your_api_key_here';

async function getLiveScores() {
  const { data } = await axios.get(
    'https://cricketliveapi.com/api/v1/live-scores',
    { headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${API_KEY}` } }
  );
  data.data.forEach(match => {
    console.log(`${match.teams} — ${match.score}`);
  });
}

getLiveScores();

Fantasy Cricket Points API

If you're building a fantasy cricket app, this is the endpoint you need:

GET /api/v1/fantasy/points/{match_id}

Response includes pre-calculated Dream11-compatible points for every player — updated ball by ball.

{
  "players": [
    {
      "name": "Virat Kohli",
      "team": "RCB",
      "fantasy_points": 87.5,
      "runs": 72,
      "fours": 6,
      "sixes": 3
    }
  ]
}

Available Endpoints

Endpoint	Description
`GET /live-scores`	All live matches
`GET /match/{id}/scorecard`	Full scorecard
`GET /match/{id}/commentary`	Ball-by-ball commentary
`GET /fantasy/points/{id}`	Fantasy points
`GET /player/{id}/stats`	Player career stats
`GET /series/{id}/schedule`	Match schedule
`GET /rankings/{format}`	ICC rankings

Pricing

Plan	Calls/Day	Price
Free	500	₹0
Starter	5,000	₹999/month
Pro	50,000	₹2,999/month
Enterprise	Unlimited	Custom

What Can You Build?

🏏 Live score website or widget
📱 Cricket Android/iOS app
🎮 Fantasy cricket platform (Dream11 clone)
📊 Cricket analytics dashboard
🤖 Cricket score Telegram/WhatsApp bot
📰 Sports news site with auto-populated scorecards

Get your free API key: cricketliveapi.com/register

No credit card. No commitment. 500 free calls/day forever.

Happy building! 🏏