The ‘Fantasy Cricket Stock Exchange (FCSE)‘, in place since the MPL 2013  season, has served a two pronged role – primarily a fantasy cricket platform, and secondarily towards calculating how much each team is charged for the players it retains for a given season, based on the players performance from the previous season.

The formula for re-evaluating the (player) stock prices has evolved over the years, and will continue to do so. As always, any updates to the formula to recalculate stock prices, is applied to the next full MPL season – the formula doesn’t change mid-way, during the MPL season.

Volatility in the stock market is a concept everyone is familiar with, and the FCSE is par for the course with stock prices here also equally volatile at times.

With that in mind, let’s review the performances of every player who took part in MPL 2016, from a stock price perspective. Listed below is the legend for reading the table that follows.

Only four player’s had a peak value higher than $30 at some point in the tournament – Ankit Soni ($30.89), Priyank Saxena ($36.29), Udith Hegde ($36.36), and Dhruv Reddy ($37.49). Each of these four players, play as an all-rounder. An all-rounder is said to be very good if he has a stock price that is north of $20. Crossing $30, and getting close to $40 puts a player in a tier well above the rest of the pack.

Priyank is the only player in MPL history, to breach the $40 mark – he had a peak of $40.50 during MPL 2015. Anil Kumar Yedugani who was second behind Priyank, with a peak value of $37.06 during MPL 2014, now slides to third behind Dhruv.

• ‘Offer Price‘: Price paid for a  player’s service at the MPL 2016 “Player’s Auction”
• ‘Closing‘: Stock price for the given player after his last match in MPL 2016
• ‘Low‘: Lowest price point for the player’s stock price during the MPL 2016 season
• ‘Peak‘: Highest price point for the player’s stock price during the MPL 2016 season
• ‘Average‘: Average price point for the player’s stock price across the MPL 2016 season
• ‘*’: Indicates a player who was the captain of the team in MPL 2016. The ‘Offer Price’ for the captain for each team for the MPL 2016 season, was the average stock price for the respective player from the MPL 2015 season.
• ‘^’: Indicates a player who was the mentor/vice-captain of the team in MPL 2016. The ‘Offer Price’ for the mentor/vice-captain for each team for the MPL 2016 season, was the winning bid placed by the captain of that team for the mentor/vice-captain.

Continue reading MPL 2016 Player Review from a Stock Perspective →

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MPL 2016 Auction will be the biggest auction yet, in MPL history. With 6 teams and at least 70 players still left in the auction pool, the MPL Auction and Awards night promises to be an exciting night.

MPL Auction Awards Night Schedule:

1.  MPL 2015 Awards Night
2.  Dinner break
3. Team Name Auction
4. MPL 2016 Schedule, and Tournament format walk-through/discussion
5.  Mohit pick’s his team if he’d like to. Team loses $9 in the process – Mohit’s avg. price from last year
6.  General Auction starts.

1.  A team name will be picked randomly by the Auctioneer. Captains can bid for the team name (starting at $1).
2.  If the team name does not attract any bid, it will be called again after the other teams have been called once.

1.  Team with the most balance left at the end of the team name auction will start the auction by nominating an available player.
2.  Once a player is nominated, the Auctioneer, will enable the bidding on the player.
3.  At this point, all the captains can bid on the player via the app.  The captains can either pass on the player or bid for the player by entering an amount. (This is silent/hidden from other captains)
   1.  The bid amount must be equal to or greater than the average stock price for the player.
   2.   If all the captains pass on the player then he will be held from the auction till all the other players have been nominated at least once.  The passed player’s average price would also be halved each time they are passed (min $1).
4.  We will have a visual queue on the auction page (as soon as a captain bids).
5.  Once all the 6 bids are in, the auctioneer will reveal the individual bids.
   1.  The captain with the highest bid will get the player.
   2.   In case of a tie, when 2 or more captains have bid the same amount, the captain who bid the quickest will get that bid amount and other captains who were tied will then get to raise the bids in an open auction. Only the tied captains will get an opportunity to bid for the player in the open auction.
6.  The captain that wins the player, will then get the chance to nominate the next player.
7.  All teams need to have a minimum of 14 players in the squad.
8.  All the players need to be bought at a min. price of $1.  This means that if a team has 7 players in the squad and $20 left in its pool, then the maximum it can bid for the 8th player is [$20 – (min players – current players + 1) => 20 – (14 – 7) + 1 => $14].

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MPL 2016 Tournament Format

Round-Robin Stage

• 1.0 : Each of the six teams will play a total of nine matches in the round-robin stage.
• 1.1: For each team, the nine matches will constitute playing twice against four, randomly picked, out of the other five teams, and once against the remaining team.
• 1.2: The entire schedule for MPL 2016 will be announced prior to the Player’s Auction.
• 1.3: We are making certain assumptions about the ground permit for Sargent Field – that we will have it for the days that matches are scheduled at Sargent Field i.e. the schedule for all matches, including those at Sargent Field, will be published prior to the permit being received. If changes are required to the schedule, after we receive the field permit, we will update the schedule accordingly, which in turn could impact i.e. reduce the number of matches played by each team in the round-robin stage.
• 1.4: There will be a total of 27 matches in the round-robin stage, and four matches in the Playoffs, for a total of 31 matches.
• 1.5: With the number of scheduled matches increasing from 22 (in MPL 2015) to 31 (in MPL 2016), matches washed-out during the round-robin stages will not be replayed. The points from these matches will be split by the two teams.

Continue reading MPL 2016: Tournament Format and Playing Conditions →

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The ‘Fantasy Cricket Stock Exchange (FCSE)‘, in place since the MPL 2013  season, has served a two pronged role – primarily a fantasy cricket platform, and secondarily towards calculating how much each team is charged for the players it retains.

The formula for re-evaluating the (player) stock prices has evolved over the years, and will continue to do so as we look ahead to the 2016 season. As always, any updates to the formula to recalculate stock prices, is applied to the next full MPL season – the formula doesn’t change mid-way, during the MPL season.

Volatility in the stock market is a concept everyone is familiar with, and the FCSE is par for the course with stock prices here also equally volatile at times.

With that in mind, let’s review the performances of everyone, from MPL 2015, from a stock price perspective. Listed below is the legend for reading the table that follows.

• ‘Offer Price‘: Price paid for a  player’s service at the MPL 2015 “Player’s Auction”
• ‘Closing‘: Stock price for the given player after his last match in MPL 2015
• ‘Low‘: Lowest price point for this stock during the MPL 2015 season
• ‘Peak‘: Highest price point for this stock during the MPL 2015 season
• ‘Average‘: Average price point for this stock across the MPL 2015 season
• ‘*’: Indicates a player who was part of “Three Musketeers” of the respective teams in MPL 2015. The ‘Three Musketeers’ were the three members retained by each team for the MPL 2015 season, from among their MPL 2014 squads. The ‘Offer Price’ for members of the ‘Three Musketeers’ for each team for the MPL 2015 season, was the average stock price for the respective player from the MPL 2014 season.

Continue reading MPL 2015 Player Review from a Stock Perspective →

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2016 will see MPL have 6 brand new captains for the first time with no retained players. To help the captains, MPL will have it first ever VIRTUAL AUCTION for Vice-Captain/Mentor/Guru.

Here are the rules for the Virtual Auction:

1. Based on the FB poll results for Vice Captains, a Vice Captain Player pool will be created consisiting of all players that receive more than a single vote in the poll.
2. Players from the Vice Captain pool  will be presented one by one (most popular first) for auction for a period of 24 hrs (Starting Monday, 5/9/2016 7PM ). Every 24 hours a new player will be presented till all the teams have acquired a player.
3. Each captain can only acquire a single player in this virtual auction. Once a captain has acquired a player he is out of bidding for the remaining players.
4.  The cost of the player will be deducted from the Captain purse. Each captain will start with a purse of $101 to compose a squad. The average stock price of the captain WILL BE deducted from this purse. (Raghuvir will post the actual balance available to each captain)
5. Bidding Rules:

a)  A captain bids on the player by adding a new comment to the post. (All bids are binding)

b) If a captain is not interested in a player, he can pass on the player by either explicitly commenting or not commenting at all.

c) If a player is passed by all the captains, he is taken out of the Vice Captain Pool.

d) Bidding for the player starts at $1

e) Captain with the highest bid at the end of the 24 hrs will get the player.

e) Kunal (Auctioneer-in-chief) rulings are final.

f) Once 5 out of the 6 captains have acquired their players, the last captain will be able to select any player still available in the Vice Captain pool for a cost of the average stock price of the player. (Raghuvir – will provide the average stock prices of all players in the Vice Captain pool by Monday 5 PM).

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MPL 2015 Eliminator – Incredibles @ X-Men, August 12 2015:

• Scorecard
• Points & Stocks

Match Summary:

X-Men won the toss and chose to bat. Five wickets in the first six overs put X-Men on the back-foot and they never recovered enough. Rahul, playing his last MPL match, bowled his quota of three overs up-front, and got key wickets of Sandeep (bowled), Yashwanth (caught-behind), and Milind (caught at gully) – openers and one-down. He also get Anoop run-out shortly after.

Rohith and Venkat also fell soon after. Koundinya attempted to resurrect a sinking ship, but was out for 10(17). X-Men were 32/8 in 9.1 overs and in all sorts of trouble. Suresh and Krishna, along with some help from extras, stitched together the largest partnership of the inning – 21 runs – before they both fell in the last over of the inning. X-Men posted 53/10 in 13.4 overs, leaving two deliveries on the table.

Incredibles lost Adai in the second over of their chase, but got some momentum through Anuj – he got the only hit for a six in the match. Anuj fell with the score at 21/2 in 4 overs. Nachiket and Sriram kept the scoreboard ticking with singles.

Nachiket and Rahul were dismissed with the score at 37/4 in 6.5 overs.  Rahul having had a great outing with the ball, would not have one with the bat – run out by Koundinya for 1(4). Sriram along with Koushik kept things simple, and took care of business, with plenty of extras, as they got Incredibles to 48/5 in 10 overs, before Koushik fell. Priyank and Sriram took care of the final rites, as Incredibles got their target of 54 with five wickets and 3.1 overs to spare.

Incredibles had lost to X-Men in both their round-robin meetings, before defeating them today in the MPL 2015 eliminator. Incredibles, having lost their first four matches in MPL 2015, have made it to the MPL 2015 final on the back of five straight wins – cornered tigers anyone?

They’ll take on the Transformers in the MPL 2015 final – Incredibles are the only team to beat the Transformers, who’d won seven straight at the time.

Player Spotlight:

Koundinya and Suresh lead the batting for X-Men, but clearly lacked support – 7(13) and 13(17) respectively. Yashwanth and Krishna were the only other batsmen to face more than 10 deliveries  – 7(13) and 4(13) respectively. Yashwanth and Suresh struck a boundary each.

Rahul and Chaitanya lead the bowling for Incredibles in style – 3-0-11-3, and 3-1-11-2 respectively. They were ably supported by Priyank and Abhijit – 3-0-9-0 and 3-0-10-1 respectively.

Nachiket, Anuj, and Sriram took care of the tricky chase for Incredibles – 10 (20), 9(8) and 10(19) respectively. Anuj got the only six in the match; there were no four’s in the Incredibles batting.

Yashwanth and Krishna looked to keep the pressure on with the ball, but a target of 54 was never sufficient to test the Incredibles batting, especially in light of the extras the bowling unit leaked – 3-0-11-2 and 2.5-0-11-0 respectively.

Key Stats:

Legend:

Dot Ball Count (DBC): Dot balls faced by all batsmen in the given team for this match. Includes any deliveries not faced on account of being all-out prior to the 14 allotted overs.

Extra Deliveries (ED):The total number of wides and no-ball bowled by the opposition, during this team's batting.

Effective Dot Ball Count (EDBC): Subtracting the sum of wides and no-balls bowled by the opposition, from the DBC.

Runs in Boundaries (RiB): The total runs scored in boundary hits.

Incredibles conceded eight wides and three no-balls, along with two byes – 13 extras, including 11 extra deliveries.  X-Men in turn conceded six wides, eight no-balls, and three byes – 17 extras, including 14 extra deliveries.

30 runs in extras conceded by the two teams, as compared to 77 runs scored off the bats, in 24.3 overs. Have to wonder how a tighter bowling  performance by X-Men would have impacted the match.

Chaitanya has 14 wickets in MPL 2015, and the purple cap for Incredibles is secure in his hands – or, on his head. He needs three more wickets to tie Mayank, and four to become the highest wicket taker in MPL 2015.

Rahul finished with 34 runs at a SR of 51 for 69 batting points; 8 wickets at ER of 4, for 103 bowling points; and 4 catches/run-outs for 20 points.

Plays of the day:

1. Yashwanth was off to a tentative start while batting, and had three difficult chances go-down. He got a boundary hit over Anuj at deep square-leg, who was standing a few yards in from the boundary line. Anuj back-pedaled but couldn’t take the catch. Anuj walked in from behind the boundary line for each delivery there onward, for the rest of the match.
2. Sandeep looked comfortable while facing Rahul in the opening over. Rahul bowled a lose ball – a high full-toss – which turned out to be the best bowl of the over, for it clipped the off-stump, and knocked a bail over for the first of his three wickets.
3. Rahul was bowling well, and bowled his three over quota up-front – three of the first five overs of the match. Yashwanth knicked the first ball of the fifth over through to Adai (wicket-keeper). Incredibles went up in appeal as one, and while the umpire took his time, Yashwanth had already walked off!
4. The X-Men were in trouble at 23/5, but with Koundinya and Rohith in the middle, they were very much in the contest. They got to 27/5 after 6 overs. Run-rate seemed fine – it was the wickets lost that concerned them. However, a tight over from Abhijit where only one run came, was followed by a beautiful display in classical off-spin bowling by Chaitanya. He worked Rohith over, before breaking through his defenses to have him bowled. Flight, loop, spin, bounce, and all that jazz.
5. With Rahul playing his last MPL match, everyone at the ground – players and spectators – gave Rahul a ‘Guard of Honor‘. An emotional moment was followed by a bear hug from Mayank – friends since their childhood. Rahul was also presented with a collage that carried photos across his six seasons with the club.

Player Rankings:

Yashwanth (482 points) and Koundinya (450 points) end their MPL 2015 campaign in the second and third spots respectively, in the Player Rankings.

Priyank and Chaitanya, along with Yeshwanth have 412 points each – in a three way tie for the eighth spot.

Rahul signed off of MPL, with 193 points this season, in the 22nd spot overall.

Stock Review:

Rahul’s was the only stock to post a significant gain – up $5.02. Anuj’s stock also rose up by $1.37.

Yashwanth, Priyank, Chaitanya, Dhruv, Koundinya, Rahul and Sriram’s stocks are now valued at $20.48, $17.98, $15.98, $14.77, $14.48, $13.18 and $12.91 respectively.

* Scorecard, and 'Points & Stock Price Reevaluation' links are now available off the Schedule page

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Avengers @ Transformers, August 3 2015:

• Scorecard
• Points & Stocks

Match Summary:

Avengers won the toss and chose to bat. A wicket in the second over apart, the Transformers’ bowlers were made to sweat. Mohit and Surya forged a strong second wicket partnership, as the batsmen complimented each other well – Mohit rotated the strike, while Surya took the attack to the bowlers.

39/2 after 7.4 overs was a strong launching pad and the middle order capitalized. The Transformers bowlers applied the brakes to an extent, as Avengers got to 62/4 in 13 overs. Ganesh I provided the momentum at the death – consecutive sixes over square-leg and long-on boundaries to start the last over – as Avengers posted 77/6 in their allotted 14 overs.

Avengers bowled and fielded well, to reduce Transformers to 25/4 after 6.1 overs, including two run-outs. However a key partnership between Madhu and Chirag – with Madhu playing the role of aggressor – got the Transformers to 49/4 in 9.1 overs, and their chase back on track

However, the Avengers struck back, as Rushil lead the way with two wickets and a run-out, leaving the Transformers at 58/8 in 11.3 overs. Transformers, playing only 10 men, required their last wicket pair to get 20 runs off 15 balls.

Aggressive running, a moment of confusion and chaos, and a lucky bounce got Transformers a famous win off the last ball of the inning – a boundary hit by Dipesh with four runs required off the last ball.

Transformers with their seventh win in a row have secured the top spot in MPL 2015 – Team Standings with a match to go. Avengers are fifth with two points, with a match remaining against the X-Men.

Player Spotlight:

Mohit, Surya, and Ganesh I lead the way with the bat for Avengers, with each of them scoring 11(27), 29(27) and 15(8) respectively. Surya had two four’s while Ganesh I had two sixes. Ankit and Pritish chipped in with useful cameos – 6(15) and 7(5) respectively.

Dipesh, Chirag, and Anil bowled well for Transformers – 3-0-10-2, 3-0-13-1, and 2-0-7-0 respectively. Madhu getting his first bowl of the season, had 1-0-4-1 to show for his effort.

Hari K, Madhu, Chirag and Dipesh lead the way with the bat for Transformers – 10(15), 18(12), 9(12), and 17(13) respectively. Neel’s contribution of 5(7) with Dipesh, in a 20 run winning stand was vital, as was his running between the wickets. Anil, opening the batting on this occasion, gave his team a quick start – 6(9).

Kunal and Rushil lead the bowling attack for Avengers – 3-0-13-0 and 3-0-14-3 respectively. Rushil also got a key run-out, while Pritish contributed to two run-outs himself. Swarooph chipped in with a wicket too – 2-0-12-1.

Key Stats:

Legend:

Dot Ball Count (DBC): Dot balls faced by all batsmen in the given team for this match. Includes any deliveries not faced on account of being all-out prior to the 14 allotted overs.

Extra Deliveries (ED):The total number of wides and no-ball bowled by the opposition, during this team's batting.

Effective Dot Ball Count (EDBC): Subtracting the sum of wides and no-balls bowled by the opposition, from the DBC.

Runs in Boundaries (RiB): The total runs scored in boundary hits.

Surya joined the ‘batsmen with 50 plus runs in MPL 2015’ club. He now has 63 runs and is fifth in the most-runs table.

Ankit S, with 10 wickets, joined  the ‘bowlers with 10 plus wickets in MPL 2015’ club.

An off-day for Yeshwanth saw him get a combined negative 35.55 points, and thus break his tie for the top-spot in Player Rankings with Yashwanth. It didn’t matter, as Dipesh took over pole position from both.

Plays of the day:

1. Avengers got to 62/4 in 13 overs. Ganesh I was on strike as Yeshwanth came on to bowl the last over. Ganesh I launched consecutive sixes – a powerful flick over square leg and a straight hit over long-on. He was out going for another off the fourth ball of the over, but the damage had already been done.
2. Transformers needed some momentum as the asking rate got to seven an over with seven overs to go. Madhu took the attack to the Avengers, as he hit one toward the deep mid-wicket boundary. Prabhakar back pedaled and took a difficult catch. However, as he was about to celebrate, he realized that his motion had taken him over the boundary line; giving Transformers six vital runs. Madhu capitalized on the lifeline to get another boundary.
3. Rushil was bowling well and had dismissed Raghuvir and Madhu. Yeshwanth had joined Chirag and was at the non-striker’s end. Rushil stopped an attempted straight drive by Chirag, as he fell to the ground and to his right. In a quick swooping action he picked up the ball and threw down the stumps at the non-strikers end. Yeshwanth didn’t have time to get his bat back in the crease, and was run-out through a brilliant piece of fielding.
4. Dipesh pulled-up tender during the first runs he ran for. Chirag and Ankit D had a quick discussion, and Ankit D allowed Yeshwanth as the runner for Dipesh. Master stroke number one by Ankit D.
5. Confusion and chaos reigned in the penultimate over of the Transformers’ chase, as the required rate was between seven and eight runs an over. Neel played a straight drive, and the batsmen ran for two runs.

   However, the umpires indicated that the ball had struck leg first, which seemed to be the consensus among all, prior to hitting Neel’s bat during the stroke. Per NECA rules, once the ball hits leg, the ball is ruled dead – the batsman can only be out bowled if the ball rolls on to the stump, or stumped provided the keeper collects the ball behind the stumps. However, per international cricket, bat-pad and pad-bat are treated the same.

   A discussion ensued among the captains and the umpires – Rohith and Sriram. Ganesh I and Raghuvir were also consulted. MPL was started with NECA rules, but over the years many of the NECA specific rules were stripped off from MPL. No one was sure what rule applied here-in. Raghuvir and Ganesh were of the opinion that NECA rule applied in this case, but Chirag was firm that international rules applied.

   After a few minutes of discussion, Ankit D relented to Chirag, to allow the ball to be score as two runs. Master stroke number two by Ankit D. The discussion though would continue in the Facebook group.

6. Good bowling in the last over by Surya, left the Transformers requiring four to win, and three to tie off the last ball, with Dipesh on strike. A full-ball was swung to the deep mid-wicket boundary, where Kunal was placed. Unsure about the equation (he’d reveal later that he thought that Transformers required two to tie), Kunal charged at the ball.However, a fortunate bounce for Transformers, an unfortunate one for Avengers, resulted in the ball bouncing over Kunal, and reaching the boundary. A famous win for Transformers, a crushing loss for the Avengers – a win for the sport of cricket.

* Scorecard, and 'Points & Stock Price Reevaluation' links are now available off the Schedule page

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Avengers @ X-Men, July 30 2015:

• Scorecard
• Points & Stocks

Match Summary:

Avengers won the toss and chose to bat. A good start by the top-order, provided a platform for a big score – Avengers got to 42/3 in 7.4 overs, and were eyeing a score in excess of 75.

The bowlers from X-Men struggled with their line and length, and subsequently leaked extras. X-Men kept changing the bowlers, and  tightened things up in the next few overs, as the Avengers’ batting folded for 61 in 13.3 overs, leaving three deliveries on the table.

Chasing 62 for a win in their allotted 14 overs, the openers for X-Men provided the ideal start – 29 in 6.1 overs – before the first wicket fell. They lost a few more wickets along the way, but wrapped up the chase in 12.4 overs, winning by 6 wickets.

X-Men with eight points via four wins, moved closer to locking up the second spot in the MPL 2015 – Team Standings. Avengers while fifth in the standings, are only two points (one win) out of the the third and fourth spot teams – Justice League and Incredibles. Their NRR however (-1.499) may leave them with too much to make up with only two matches pending.

Player Spotlight:

Rohith lead the way for the X-Men as he secured a career best 5/5 in his three overs – 3-0-5-5. His strikes derailed the Avengers batting, and ensured his team didn’t have much to chase.

This is also the best bowling figure for any bowler in MPL – pushing Mayank’s 7/5 and Sreeram’s 8/5 down a spot.

Koundinya played his part with the ball well, but didn’t get any wickets as a reward – 2-0-4-0. Aditya earned two wickets, but they proved expensive – 1.3-0-13-2.

Ankit D, Pritish and Surya – 12(18), 9(18), 11(22) respectively – played good knocks for the Avengers, but neither could convert a strong start into a tall score.

Dhruv was the key in providing the X-Men batting a rollicking start, as he made 25(30), including two boundary hits, before stepping aside – retired hurt, with the team score on 47/2 in 10 overs – to provide other batsmen a chance to get a few runs.

Krishna and Anoop made they opportunities with the bat count fo 8(18) and 9(11) respectively.

Rushil was the only Avengers bowler to make an impression – 3-0-10-2.

Key Stats:

Legend:

Dot Ball Count (DBC): Dot balls faced by all batsmen in the given team for this match. Includes any deliveries not faced on account of being all-out prior to the 14 allotted overs.

Extra Deliveries (ED):The total number of wides and no-ball bowled by the opposition, during this team's batting.

Effective Dot Ball Count (EDBC): Subtracting the sum of wides and no-balls bowled by the opposition, from the DBC.

Runs in Boundaries (RiB): The total runs scored in boundary hits.

The Avengers’ batting consisted of five ducks.

The X-Men bowling unit conceded 19 extras – 13 wides and six no-balls.

There were no additions to the ‘batsman with 50 plus runs in MPL 2015’ and ‘bowlers with 10 plus wickets in MPL 2015’ clubs.

Plays of the day:

1. Scattered thunderstorms was the projected forecast for the match. The rains arrived during the second half of the Avengers’ batting, and proceeded to get heavier. A discussion ensued about either waiting for the rains to pass, or to call of the match completely – any match called off would be replayed from scratch. Rohith, captain of X-Men, had taken three wickets by this time and mentioned that if he is able to get a five wicket haul, the match should continue. The rest, as they say, is history.

Player Rankings:

Rohith (305 points) and Ankit S (294 points) are now in the seventh and eighth spots respectively, in the Player Rankings

Yashwanth, without playing this match, is still tied for the top-spot with Yeshwanth – both on 421 points.

Koundinya (281) and Dhruv (255) are pushing upward – now at the 11th and 13th spots respectively.

Stock Review:

Rohith, Dhruv, Rushil, Surya and Ankit D’s stocks posted significant gains – up by $12.44, $7.15, $3.5, $3.35 and $2.28 respectively.

Rohith, Dhruv,, Koundinya, Ankit S, and Rushil’s stocks are now valued at $24.39, $17.94, $12.17, $10.87, and $10.17 respectively.

* Scorecard, and 'Points & Stock Price Reevaluation' links are now available off the Schedule page

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Justice League @ Incredibles, July 29 2015:

• Scorecard
• Points & Stocks

Match Summary:

Incredibles won the toss and chose to bat. Justice League bowlers kept the Incredibles batting unit in check with a steady stream of wickets – two ducks in the top-order had the Incredibles at 14/3 after 5.2 overs.

Small partnerships, with batsmen playing around Nachiket, took the Incredibles to 54/5 after 12 overs. However, a dramatic collapse of 3 runs for 5 wickets in the space of 9 balls meant the Incredibles folded for 57 in 13.3 overs – leaving 3 balls on the table.

Incredibles got a wicket off the first ball, as they began their defense of 57 on the right note; they got the second wicket in the next over. A run-out followed by a middle-order collapse that included Hari getting out hit-wicket, had the Justice League in trouble at 20/6 after 7 overs.

The lower order attempted to resurrect the inning, and chase down a relatively small target. However, the damage proved too much to recover from, as Justice League folded for 46 runs in 12.4 overs – leaving 8 balls on the table – a 11 run loss.

Justice League and Incredibles have now both played six matches, and have four points each. Justice League stay in the third spot in the MPL 2015 – Team Standings, marginally ahead of Incredibles, on NRR: -0.083 to -0.19.

Player Spotlight:

Sriram played anchor for Incredibles, while Nachiket stood tall and played a captain’s knock. Anuj and Chaitanya played key supporting roles as the Incredibles posted a slightly under-whelming 57. Sriram, Nachiket, Anuj and Chaitanya made 11(21), 22(22), 8(8), and 5(7) respectively.

Anand R, Mayank, Rafeeq and Arun stood tall with the ball for Justice League – 3-0-6-1, 2.3-0-10-2, 3-1-7-1, and 3-0-15-3 respectively.

Hari, Ashish S, Rafeeq and Shalyajit were the only Justice League batsmen to put up a fight, making 7(16), 5(9), 6(16), and 6(8) respectively.

Rahul, Sriram, Sachin, and Chaitanya stood out with the ball for Incredibles – 3-0-11-1, 2.4-0-12-4, 3-0-10-2, and 3-0-7-2 respectively.

Key Stats:

Legend:

Dot Ball Count (DBC): Dot balls faced by all batsmen in the given team for this match. Includes any deliveries not faced on account of being all-out prior to the 14 allotted overs.

Extra Deliveries (ED):The total number of wides and no-ball bowled by the opposition, during this team's batting.

Effective Dot Ball Count (EDBC): Subtracting the sum of wides and no-balls bowled by the opposition, from the DBC.

Runs in Boundaries (RiB): The total runs scored in boundary hits.

The Incredibles’ batting consisted of five ducks.

Sriram, Nachi, and Anuj – now with 59, 59, and 60 runs respectively – join the ‘batsman with 50 plus runs in MPL 2015’ club – Rohith, Anuj, Anil, Yashwanth, and Yeshwanth being the others.

Rafeeq joins Mayank, Dipesh and Chirag, in the ‘bowlers with 10 plus wickets in MPL 2015’ club. Rafeeq has exactly 10 wickets. Mayank’s two wicket haul gets him back to the top of the highest wicket-taker – now with 12 wickets.

Plays of the day:

1. Sreeram was part of the playing XI, but couldn’t make it for the match. Former captain Priyank, soaking in the match as part of the audience, strode out at the fall of the eighth wicket. With his right palm in a cast – he came out to bat with one good hand in Sreeram’s place (and name). A run-out of the first ball he faced didn’t make a difference to the scorecard – Sreeram may not be too happy about the impact of this to his points and stock-price reevaluation.

Player Rankings:

Mayank, Rafeeqm Sriram and Chaitanya moved up in the Player Rankings, now in the fourth, sixth, ninth and tenth spots respectively.

Arun continues to push upward, and is at 12th overall. Nachiketh is at 15th, while Priyank on the back of only his superman like performance in the Incredibles’ season opener, is now at 14th.

Stock Review:

Sriram, Anand, Nachiketh, and Chaitanya’s stocks posted significant gains – up by $6.87, $4.35, $3.48, and $2.57 respectively.

Sriram, Rafeeq, Chaitanya, Nachiket, Arun and Mayank’s stocks are now valued at $23.35, $21.49, $19.93, $19.56, $16.63, and $14.68 respectively.

* Scorecard, and 'Points & Stock Price Reevaluation' links are now available off the Schedule page

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Transformers @ Justice League, July 28 2015:

• Scorecard
• Points & Stocks

Match Summary:

Transformers won the toss and unsurprisingly, chose to bat. Justice League bowlers had Transformers in trouble at 33/5 after 8 overs – Transformers were only 10 players for the match.

However, a 19 run 12th over gave the Transformers’ inning momentum and more, as they accelerated from 47/5 after 11 to 86/7 in their allotted 14 overs.

Justice League got a good platform in their pursuit of 87 runs for the win – they got to 29/1 in 6 overs.  However, scoreboard pressure coupled with good bowling and fielding derailed the chase, as Justice League fell to 52/9, and eventually finished at 65/9, falling short of their target by 22 runs.

Transformers, with an MPL record sixth win in a row, are sitting pretty at the top of the MPL 2015 – Team Standings, while Justice League stay at third (four points), ahead of a key clash against the Incredibles (two points) tomorrow.

Player Spotlight:

Chirag the tailender went AWOL, as Chirag the batsman opened the batting. Chirag and Neel played steady knocks as they setup a platform for the push to a competitive score.

For a second match in a row, a player to the name of Y[a|e]shwanth stole the show.  Yeshwanth made 27(16)* on the back of three fours, and some strong running between the wicket, playing out only two dot balls in the process. Coming in at 33/5 after 8 overs, he finished unbeaten.

Srikanth and Madhu ably supported Yeshwanth, as they played valuable cameos. Chirag, Neel, Srikanth, Yeshwanth, and Madhu made 8(12), 9(18), 12(19), 27(16)* and 6(4) respectively.

Rafeeq was impressive with the ball for Justice League, and found support in Arun – 3-0-14-3, and 3-0-13-1 respectively.

Anandan and Ashish S  got the chase of 87 off on the right note – Justice League were 29/2 after 6.1 when Anandan was out. Ram G got a huge six over the square-leg boundary in the last over of the inning – the only six of the match. Anandan, Ashish S, and Ram G made 13(22), 15(21) and 12(7)* respectively.

Ganesh K, and Dipesh lead the Transformers’ bowling, while Ashish U chipped in with a key over – 3-0-8-1, 3-0-10-3, and 1-0-4-1 respectively. Ganesh K also took two catches and effected a run-out to cap off a memorable day’s work in the field.

Key Stats:

The number of dot balls played out by the Transformers – Dot Ball Count (DBC) – was 39 or 46.43% of balls faced. However, factoring in the 8 wides and 7 no-balls bowled by Justice League, the Effective Dot Balls Count (EDBC) is 24 – 28.57%. Three four’s meant 12 runs came in boundaries.

The DBC for Justice League was 42, or 50% of balls faced. However, factoring in the 3 wides and 2 no-balls bowled by Transformers, the EDBC is 37 – 44.05%. One four and one six  meant 10 runs came in boundaries.

Yeshwanth becomes the fifth member of the ‘batsman with 50 plus runs in MPL 2015’ club – Rohith, Anuj, Anil, and Yashwanth being the other four. With 75 runs to his name, Yeshwanth is second in the runs chart only to Yashwanth, who in turn has 85.

Dipesh and Chirag joined Mayank in the ‘bowlers with 10 plus wickets in MPL 2015’ club. Dipesh, with 11 wickets is now the highest wicket taker this season. Mayank and Chirag are at 10 wickets a piece.

Plays of the day:

1. During the Justice League chase, Ankit D was the umpire and scorer. On noticing the score at 44, Ankit pulled a David Shepard – hop, skip and jump – or so it looked. An inquiry later revealed that he was merely stretching.
2. Mayank and Rafeeq both ended up at the striker’s end, as a run-out was attempted at the non-strikers end. Mayank assumed he was out, and walked off. The fielder having broken the stumps prior to collecting the ball cleanly, then proceeded to pluck out a stump with ball in hand to get the run-out. Rafeeq had stepped out of the crease by now, and was declared run-out, as Mayank was called back.
3. Anil joined the Transformers after finishing a softball game in the adjacent ground. However, on account of joining the match around the half-way point, he didn’t bat or bowl. His throws from the boundary had a little extra zip on them, probably from wanting to get into the thick of action.

Player Rankings:

Yeshwanth has tied Yashwanth for the first spot in the Player Rankings – both with 421 points for the season!

Anil, Dipesh, Mayank, Chirag, Ganesh K, and Rafeeq are third, fourth, fifth, seventh, ninth and tenth, respectively. Arun is at twelfth.

Stock Review:

Dipesh, Ganesh K, Yeshwanth, Rafeeq, and Ashish S’ stocks posted significant gains – up by $7.82, $6.66, $4.56, $3.45, and $3.2 respectively.

Yeshwanth, Rafeeq, Dipesh, Arun, Ganesh K and Mayank’s stocks are now valued at $22.66, $21.39, $19.54, $17.90, $17.39, and $15.33 respectively.

* Scorecard, and 'Points & Stock Price Reevaluation' links are now available off the Schedule page

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