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Sunday, May 24, 2009

Its Gilchrist’s hurricane vs Kumble’s discipline

Different strategies adopted by Deccan and Bangalore brought about changes in their approach in this IPL. While Deccan skipper Adam Gilchrist changed his game in the semi-finals, Bangalore captain Anil Kumble brought discipline in all the departments of the game. Two different approaches adopted, and both are working fine with the teams.

Gilchrist changed his batting style in the semi-finals to completely stun Delhi. In this IPL, according to Castrol Index, on an average Gilchrist scores off 51% of the balls he faces. Against Delhi in the semis, he scored off 83 % of the balls he faced. Similarly, he has hit 24% of the balls to the boundaries on an average this IPL, but in the semis he sent 47% of the deliveries he faced to the boundaries.

The big overs by Gilchrist in the Semi-Final

Bangalore Royal Challengers on the other hand, have lifted their team’s performance on the whole in their last few games to have reached the final. Anil Kumble took over the team from the 7th game in the league stage from Kevin Pietersen. Over the next 9 matches, Kumble has won 7 games. So how did Kumble achieve this turnaround? According to Castrol Index Bangalore scored 32 in Fielding Points outlining their excellence in their field. Chennai, on the other hand continued their poor outing in the field with a (- 26) in fielding. While the whole team acted as a unit in fielding, each of the specialists then perfected their roles chipping in with above par performances. The following table demonstrates how the specialists have improved their performances based on their core skills.

Manish Pandey’s core skill being batting, his CI rocketed to 122 thanks to his brilliant century against Deccan in the last league encounter. Prior to that match Pandey used to aggregate an average Batting Momentum or BM of 20 in the 2 matches he played. In the semi-finals he achieved a CI of 66 which put Bangalore on a solid platform. Similarly, Praveen Kumar, whose role was an all-rounder in the team, bowled better in the semi-finals. So against his average Bowling Efficiency or BE of 28, he bowled at an improved level to earn a BE of 31 in the semi-final.

Can Bangalore maintain this unity on one hand and role clarity on the other in the final?

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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Who is the Most Valuable Player of this IPL?

With less than a week to go in the IPL 2009, its time to look back and pick this year’s Most Valuable Player (MVP). Selecting the best player in a league is a subjective call. And when it comes to cricket you can be sure that everyone has their own opinion.

In the NBA, the MVP is picked by an “informed” voting panel with each member ranking their top 5 candidates in a secret ballot. The player with the highest weighted average vote wins. The logic here is- the average of the subjective views of a number of experts is bound to throw up the right result. And even after this, there’s still a lot of debate of whether the right man won.

In cricket, it gets even harder because you end up comparing across species- batsmen and bowlers. Then there are all-rounders and keeper-batsmen which add to the complexity. That’s where an objective, comprehensive, all-encompassing ranking system comes in handy; that’s where the Castrol Index helps us rank the best players of the tournament. 

So let’s take a look at this year’s candidates. For simplicity, we first compare within a species (i.e. batsmen with batsmen) before looking across categories. We also look at player’s who have been a part of at least half the tournament, long enough to have made a sustained impact.

Batsmen
Here’s a look at the top five run-getters so far.

Matthew Hayden is well ahead of the pack- the most runs, an average score of nearly 50 per innings (a hallmark of consistency) and a high strike rate. The rating also tells you that while Duminy has a lot of runs, his batting momentum score is a fair bit lower than the rest- and that’s because of his low strike rate.

Bowlers
Below is a list of the top 5 wicket-takers.

This one is harder to call. RP Singh may be the purple cap holder, but Malinga and Nehra have been better overall bowlers thanks to their superior economy rates. SL Malinga just edges out the Delhi Daredevil in this list.

All-rounders
Here’s a look at the others, who did something with bat and ball for their teams.

The bowling strike rate (i.e. deliveries bowled per wicket) indicates Bravo was by far the most effective wicket taker of the lot, which led to him overcoming Kallis and Yusuf Pathan in the rankings. Plus, the West Indian got bonus points for his fielding efforts. Pathan did have the best batting strike rate and economy rate of the three, but his lack of consistency led to fewer wickets taken and fewer runs per innings. A tough call, but statistically Bravo wins out.

The MVP
Here’s where the Castrol Index helps you compare across players, regardless of their role in their team. And the outright winner is Matthew Hayden. His overall Castrol Index of 81 is top of the pack. His batting momentum score of 79 is nearly 40% better than his closest competitor. His consistency has been unparalleled by anyone- no other batsman, bowler or all-rounder has maintained his level of sustained excellence. And Hayden has led his side to a winning record and a place in the semis. Without a doubt, the IPL 2009 MVP is Matthew Hayden. 

Arvind Iyengar - View Profile

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