Performance analytics in the growing commercial world of cricket leagues

Abstract

Gone are the days where cricket used to be just a game. Since its evolution from a local British sport, it has come a long way to become the religion that it is today, especially in India. The latest development in a long journey of evolution has been the emergence of lucrative global cricket leagues. Not only do these promote young talent but also increase the cricketing audience to include a lot of non-traditional supporters who have now started following this shortened version of the game. With increased spotlight and popularity also comes increasing performance pressure. Even though this version of the game is significantly different from its former counterparts, a lot of the metrics used to evaluate the performance of players have not changed. These metrics have stayed stagnant for a while now, and the most popular ones are the ones which are very objectively computable but do not present the complete picture, e.g. runs, average, wickets, and catches. While it would be ludicrous to try and replace these fundamental metrics, what could be attempted is to try and supplement them with newer, more dynamic measures. Our objective with this paper is to do just that, we want to throw light on new measures that could be looked at to better analyze the performance and resultant impact of a player. Our study comprises of two parts where we have tried to address two major issues: 1. Recent form of a batsman. 2. Fielding Performance. For each we have started with the need for such metrics, the current situation and finally tried to come up with a metric also giving a sense of what further developments could be possible in each.