When it comes to IPL, Analytics is the next big thing in cricket: Here’s why

"Talent Wins Games. Teamwork Wins Championships.”

This year’s IPL auctions have been a treat for the Cricket-frenzy.

After all, it is only in the recent years that Indian Cricket lovers have been given the inside-view of what happens behind the scenes in team selections, player training, and match preparation. Big data, artificial intelligence, and analytics have become the deal-breakers in league cricket across the world. IPL is a brilliant example of how data consumption in Indian cricket has come of age.

FORMCEPT, a leading business intelligence company trusted by several Fortune 1000 companies in India and abroad, recently published a blog to explore some of the intriguing questions in this domain. How is analytics revolutionizing Cricket experience on TV, laptops, mobiles and even live audience in the stadium today? How can teams, coaches, players, management, crickets analysts and even popular media like Hotstar benefit from it? How can we go beyond questions like ‘How many runs did you score?’ or ‘How many wickets did you take?’, and asks questions that truly matter: like, ‘How valuable are you to your team?’

This article draws on some excerpts from their blog and correlates the recent developments in IPL to present a compelling case for how big data and AI are transforming modern Cricket in India.

Choice of Players and Team Formation

At the outset, let us start with the following quote by Satish Menon, CEO of Kings XI Punjab, published in a recent Times Now article.

“I think we spent a lot of time working at analytics. We were completely ready for the auctions as a result of the groundwork. If we missed out on one or two players, we made up by matching it accordingly. While initially, we were hoping to get at least 50 percent of players who were on our list, we ended up with 60-70% of the players we wanted. Whether it was Andrew Tye, or R Ashwin, Yuvraj Singh or even Chris Gayle, we are happy with the players we have in our squad. Gayle was not on the list of the core players we wanted, but we bought him towards the end.”

In fact, not just Kings XI Punjab. Many IPL teams have cracked down on data at a granular level to augment their team selection strategy. So what kind of data are we talking about?

The comprehensive player analysis is one of the biggest challenges faced by any team administration. FORMCEPT has used dataset for CricSheet data to analyze player performance by calculating the MVPI or the Most Valuable Player Index, which is a weighted composite score of the following attributes of a player:

Batting Metrics

1. Hard Hitting Ability = (4*Fours + 6*Sixes) / Balls Played by Batsman

2. Finisher = Not Out innings / Total Innings played
3. Fast Scoring Ability = Total Runs / Balls Played by Batsman
4. Consistency = Total Runs/Number of Times Out
5. Running Between Wickets = (Total Runs – (4*Fours + 6*Sixes))/(Total Balls Played – Boundary Balls)

Bowling Metrics

1. Economy = Runs Scored / (Number of balls bowled by bowler/6)

2. Wicket Taking Ability = Number of balls bowled / Wickets Taken
3. Consistency = Runs Conceded / Wickets Taken
4. Crucial Wicket Taking Ability = Number of times Four or Five Wickets Taken / Number of Innings Played
5. Short Performance Index = (Wickets Taken – 4* Number of Times Four Wickets Taken – 5* Number of Times Five Wickets Taken) / (Innings Played – Number of Times Four Wickets or Five Wickets Taken)

Approach – Methodology and Analysis

To know more about MVPI analysis based on actual examples of Chris Gayle and Amit Mishra, read FORMCEPT’s blog here.

Improved Viewer Engagement

Did you know? A new app by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has features like news, views, match analysis, fan zone & much more - primarily aimed at leveraging high-end analytics to garner viewer engagement right through the mobile interface in their hands. CSK CEO K.S. Viswanathan inaugurated the app along with cricket star Ravindra Jadeja, according to this article in The Hindu.

Mr. Viswanathan was quoted saying to The Hindu,“To give back to the fans CSK has been exploring ways and means of bringing fans closer to the team, be it via the official merchandise or tickets or being able to follow their Lions.”

Viewer engagement becomes hyper-critical in a high-stake league championship like IPL, where teams and players vie for sponsor money. In the end, by pushing match experience through match analysis, views, news, merchandise, live tickets, and so on through mobile applications, monetizing sponsorships are bound to be at the helm of big data insights in Cricket.

Want to know more? Read the original blog by FORMCEPT here, or just a drop a line at [email protected] to know about FORMCEPT’s sports analytics solutions in depth. Don’t forget to like and share this post with other Cricket fans in your network!

*Disclaimer: Please note that the opinions expressed in this article are purely based on analysis of data available with FORMCEPT at the time of such analysis, and are not intended to promote/defame any player or any other entity.