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 for every wicket: A bowler gets 15 base points for every wickets he takes.
- Landmark Bonus: For every wicket greater than 1, the bowler gets a 5 point bonus. Example a bowler picking 2 wickets gets 30 base points + 5 bonus points.
- Economy Bonus/Penalty: This is similar to the scoring rate above, but with a much higher weight as its critical for bowlers. The bowlers economy rate is compared to the innings economy rate for the first innings and the required rate for the second innings (dependent on the target they were defending). For example if a bowler gives away 15 runs in 2 overs whilst his team was defending a target of 70 runs, then his Economy Penalty is calculated as: [ required_rate – actual_rate] * overs * 5 = [ 5 – 7.5] * 2 * 5 = -25 points.
- Maiden Bonus: A bowler earns a 10 point bonus for every maidens he bowls.
- 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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