The beauty in the game of cricket comes to the fore when the battle between bat and ball is even, for it allows the game to see-saw back and forth multiple times. It is taken to a higher level when the quality of batting is matched by the quality of bowling. What makes such a contest even more mouth-watering is when the two teams involved have the fire-power to counter-punch; when they, on paper at first, and through their performance on the field secondly, make it difficult to predict an outright favorite. To witness the coming together of this is a sight to behold, to cherish those moments, to lock-up those memories forever.

Continue reading MPL 2012 Final: One for the ages →

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Well, ever since we have started calculating rankings of players on every single performance, we have received a great deal of feedback. Most of the feedback has been extremely positive and encouraging. This ranking system is a brainchild of the one and only Raghuvir, who has worked tirelessly to get this perfect and if all this MPL is any indication, he has got it quite right.

One of the most common questions about this ranking system has been, how do you calculate points? This blog is an attempt to answer and demystify the process. Before I begin, let me explain that all ranking systems are based on data that one can has access to. While this makes the ranking system objective, you lose some of the subjective information. For example, Yashwanth’s last ball 6 to win the game is the same as the 6 in the 3rd over. Subjectively, we know which was more important, but we don’t have that data available to award/rank them differently. With this said, let me explain the data that we do have:

• Team Innings Score (Batting First and Second)
• Fall of Wickets information
• Batting Scorecard
• Bowling Scorecard

With the above data, lets dig into the ranking system for Batsman:

• Duck Penalty: If a batsman gets out for a duck, he gets  -3 points
• Base Points: For every run a batsman scores, he gets 1 point
• Landmark Bonus: For ever 10, 20, 30 … etc landmark reached, a batsman gets 7 points bonus. So if a batsman scores 21 runs, he gets 21 base points + 14 bonus points.
• Contribution Bonus: A batsman gets a contribution bonus for the % of runs scored out in an inning (Max is 100). For example a batsman scoring 20 runs out of a team total of 80 would get a contribution bonus of 25 points.
• Partnership Bonus: Apart of scoring runs, its important to just stay if your partner is doing all the hitting. A partnership bonus is given as the % of runs scored by your team while you were at the batting crease (Max of 10 points). For example, if a batsman opens and scores 10 and gets out when his team’s total is 30 and the team goes on to score 60 runs, then his  batting points will be : 10 base points + 7 points +  (10/60)*100 + (30/60)*10 = 10 + 7 + 16.67 + 5 (partnership bonus).
• Scoring Rate Points (these can be negative): The Scoring rate points depend on the run rate of entire team and depends on the whether the team is batting first or chasing. A required rate is calculated and based on that every batsman’s rate is evaluated. The required rate for a team batting first is: (84/InningsTotal) [84 = 14overs * 6] and for a team batting second is: (84/TeamBattingFirstTotal). This rate is used to calculate how many a balls a batsman should have ideally taken to score the runs he did. For example: If a batsman scores 12 (20) when his team batting first scores 84 runs, then required rate = (84/84) = 1.00 and the batsman should have ideally scored 12 runs in 12 * required_rate = 12 deliveries. So the Scoring Rate points are calculated as (ideal_deliveries_taken – actual_deliveries) * 0.5. So according to our example above, the batsman would have received (12 – 20) * 0.5  = -4 points.

The sum of all the above contributions leads to a single batting score. Lets give a complete example for a real innings – In this match, Suresh scored 24 (26) out of a team total of 74. He opened the innings and got out when the team’s score was 56.  His ratings points were  78.62  calculated as:

• Base Points: 24 points
• Landmark Bonus: 10,20 = 2 x 7 = 14 points
• Contribution Bonus: 24/74 * 100 = 32.43 points
• Partnership Bonus: 56/74 * 10 = 7.1 points
• Scoring Rate:  {[(84/74)*24] – [26]}* 0.5 = {27.24 – 26}*0.5 = 0.62 points

• Base Points:  3 * 15 = 45 points
• Landmark Bonus:  (3-1) * 2 = 10 points
• Economy Bonus: [74/14 – 8/3] * 3 * 5 = [5.28 – 2.67]* 15 = 39.23 points

Unfortunately for fielders and keepers we have a simple 5 points per dismissal rate, even though a direct hit might be more valuable than a throw to keeper.

Well, I hope this demystifies the ranking system and I look forward to a heated debate on its merits.

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When this blog goes live, the basic stats page on mplbuzz would have gone live as well. This blog is an attempt to analyze the performances for the first half of the MPL. This time, instead of just using the raw stats (for number of runs, wickets and catches), Raghu (with minimal input from yours truly) has come up with a comprehensive scheme to rank each batting, bowling and fielding performance using some of the contextual information from the match.

The overall results are live on the stats page, but in this article we will try to validate the ranking measures by applying them over each MPL game. So here goes:

1) Match 1: Incredibles vs Avengers – A match dominated by Shreenath’s innings. The top 5 ranked performances in this game where:

Surprisingly, the best performance is Dipesh’s 4/11 from 3 over Shreenath’s 33 albeit by a whisker. This is understandable as the ranking system awards points based on the fact that Dipesh’s 4 wickets came at fantastic economy rate (much less than the required rate for the opposition).

2) Match 2: Justice League Vs Xmen – Last ball six to win the game! Need I say more!

As expected, Yashwanth’s performance with the bat is clearly ahead of all other performances. Yashwanth’s scoring rate helps him with the ranking system and is far ahead of the second best batting performance (Srikanth) in the match. Koundi 3-10 is the best bowling performance of the match.

3) Match 3: Avengers vs Xmen – A match full of a number of small vital contributions.

Ganesh K’s duck costs him the best performance in this match.  Ganesh K’s  2/6 and Satish’s 2/9 were clearly the standout performances in the match. Sreeram’s 19 and Amol’s 15 were the best batting performances in the game.

4) Match 4: Incredibles vs Justice League – A comfortable victory for the Incredibles following a good innings by Nachiket.

Even though Nachiket had the highest inning, his ranking score of score of 58.81 is not in the top 5, where strong bowling and all-round performances dominated. Aravind’s 3/11 and last minute hitting (14 of 13 balls) takes him to the top.  Rahul’s 12 of 10 and 3/7 in 2 overs was another great performance. Arun’s 2/6 in 3 overs ranks at around the same level to  Ganesh’s 4/14 in 3 overs (as a better economy rate is rewarded highly).

5) Match 5: Avengers vs Justice League– Another victory to the Justice League on the back of a strong performance by the Justice League bowlers.

Kaushik’s brilliant performace of 3/8 in 3 overs while defending 69 gets him the maximum points. Priyank had a brilliant all-round game, but lost on batting points due to his scoring rate which was below the required rate. Same for Phani, who had the best batting performance for his 21.

6) Match 6: Xmen vs Avengers – A great fight by the Avengers, but the low score of 56 wasn’t enough.

Amol’s all-round performance wasn’t enough to help Avengers get their first victory. Ganesh K’s calm innings and a strong bowling performance gets him top ranking for the Xmen.

7) Match 7: Incredibles vs Xmen –  A great batting performance by the Incredibles helped them to another victory.

Chirag with an all-round performance of 15 of 16 balls and 2/4 in 2 overs  leads the ranking.  Shreenath with 29 of 25 balls leads the batting performance.

8) Match 8: Incredibles vs Justice League – A great match, well contested up to the last over, where the Incredibles just pulled it out.

Dipesh’s fantastic performance with the bat and ball leads him to the top. Suresh’s 5 wicket haul gets him the highest rated bowling performance so far.

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Heading into the final leg of MPL 2012, all four teams still have a chance of making the finals. However, not every team has the same odds or ease of way. Here’s what each team needs to make the finals.

Incredibles

They could make the finals even if they lose all three of their remaining matches. It helps when you pile up huge wins, early in the tournament! They’ve been dominant and truly Incredible in the fashion in which they’ve dismantled their opposition. A win in one out of their final three games guarantee’s them a spot in the finals.

X-Men

They have surprised some in winning three out of four, and sit pretty in second place at the moment. However, they are not yet out of the woods. On one hand, they could make the finals without winning any of their remaining three games (purely on NRR, in a situation where they could be tied on points with Avengers and Justice League), and at the same time, could end up at the bottom of the table if they do that – lose their remaining three games!

They control their own destiny over their remaining three games, and have multiple roads leading to the finals.
1) The simplest route: Beat the Justice League in the next match of the tournament – on 31st July – and seal a spot for themselves, and the Incredibles, in the finals. If this happens, the Justice League and/or the Avengers can only end up with a maximum of three wins each, falling short of the four wins that Incredibles already have, and X-Men will have.
2) Win two out of their three remaining games, giving them five wins in seven games, and thus sealing a spot in the finals. Along this route, they can lose their game to the Justice League, and still stay on as master’s of their own fate

Justice League

They have lost a couple of nail-biters and are 1-3 after four games. They are still master’s of their own fate, but face a crucial, do-or-die, semi-final like game against the X-Men in theirs and the tournament’s next match – on 31st July. A loss to the X-Men in this match knocks them out of the finals; this also ensures that the Avengers cannot make the finals. The Justice League have the following paths to the final, if they defeat the X-Men in their next match.
1) A win against the Avengers, along with a loss against the Incredibles, and end-up on 6 points. If the X-Men win none of their remaining games, Justice League and X-Men are tied at 6 points and NRR decides who between these two goes to the finals.
2) A win against the Incredibles, along with a loss against the Avengers, and end-up on 6 points. If the X-Men win none of their remaining games, Justice League, X-Men, and potentially, the Avengers are tied at 6 points and NRR decides who between these three goes to the finals.
3) Wins against Avengers and Incredibles gets the Justice League to 8 points. This scenario puts pressure on the X-Men and Incredibles. Here’s why:
a) If X-Men win against Incredibles and Avengers, having lost to Justice League, X-Men will be at 10 points, and guaranteed in the finals.
b) If X-Men win against Avengers, and lose to the Incredibles, X-Men are at 8 points and tied with the Justice League on points, with NRR deciding the other finalist – Incredibles will have their five wins, and are through to the finals.
c) If X-Men win against Incredibles, and lose to the Avengers, X-Men are at 8 points and tied with the Justice League on points. If the Incredibles, in the process, lose to Justice League, X-Men, and Avengers, they will also be at 8 points. NRR will then decide which two of these three teams go through to the finals. This is also the only scenario where in the Incredibles don’t make the finals, if they suffer crushing losses in their remaining three games. However, given their healthy NRR, which is way ahead of the other three teams, it is highly unlikely that the Incredibles miss out on the fina
d) Losses for X-Men against Incredibles and Avengers, will leave the X-Men at 6 points, and out of the finals
e) If the X-Men win against Incredibles and Avengers, they will be at 10 points. In this case, the Justice League will want the Incredibles to lose the rest of the way, allowing them to be tied on points with the Incredibles, and hoping their NRR is better than that of the Incredibles. The Justice League will find it helpful that they play the Incredibles in the last round-robin match.
f) If the Incredibles, win against the Avengers, along with losses against Justice League and X-Men, will be at 10 points. Couple this with scenario ‘e’ above, and the Avengers will be without a win in the tournament, and the Justice League, in spite of winning 4 out 7, including 3 out of their last 3,  with 8 points, will fall short of making the finals.

Avengers

They need they most help of all teams to make the finals, but that’s precisely why their path is relatively simple. Any scenario wherein the Avengers make the finals, results in the Incredibles being the other finalist.

For starters, the Avengers need two things, failing which, their campaign is over. One – a win for Justice League against the X-Men. Two – win their remaining games – one each against Incredibles, Justice League and X-Men. If these two things happen, then the following is required:
1) Wins for Incredibles against X-Men and Justice League: This ensures that X-Men have only 6 points – with losses against Justice League, Avengers and Incredibles in their last three games.  Thus X-Men and Avengers are tied at 6 points, while Justice League have only 4 points. NRR will determine who between X-Men and Avengers go through to the finals.
2) A win for Incredibles against X-Men, coupled with a loss for Incredibles to Justice League: This ensures that X-Men and Justice League have only three wins each, and in the process tied with the Avengers on 6 points. NRR will determine which one team between X-Men, Justice League and Avengers go through to the finals.

In summary

The Incredibles are in a very comfortable spot. One win or just small losses (not impacting their NRR too much) gets them to the finals.

The X-Men are also right up there, but a little careless cricket and other factors could still leave them watching the finals from the sidelines. However, they still are master’s of their own fate.

The Justice League, are still in it, but face a uphill battle. While they need to win at least two out of their three remaining games, even after winning all three, they’d like either the Avengers or Incredibles to defeat the X-Men – preferably both.

The Avengers are truly, on the brink, but one should never says never. Will they avenge their loses so far? Will they play party spoilers to either the X-Men or Justice League?

The drama unfolds starting July 31st.

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