Taking the right call on the cricketing field is always a challenge. If a certain decision makes the team snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat, then the credit goes to the captain and manager. And if it proves the other way round, they face the brickbats.
Mostly, captains, coaches or managers of cricket teams take decisions based on their gut feeling which may prove irrational at times. To address such challenges, Mu Sigma, a Bangalore-based analytics company is developing a “Real-time cricket analysis” which can analyse various structured and unstructured cricket data using mathematical and statistical modeling and present a real-time suggestion.
Imagine a situation when Indian cricket team is playing arch-rival Pakistan in a nail-biting final match, and the latter batting second just requires 3 runs to win from six balls. The dilemma before the captain is who should bowl – whether a spinner or a fast bower, and if a spin bowler, will it be helpful to send a leg-spinner or someone who bowls off-break? If he zeros on a particular spin-bower, what is his track-record against that particular batsman under the given situation or is there any previous occasion in which the said bowler had won matches under similar situations. According to Mu Sigma, the solution can rip through historical data to pick-up the closest possible situation inferring with the current situation to throw a real-time result.
The modern data analysis in games originated in California almost 20 years ago in baseball. It has also been codified in a book, “The Art of Winning an Unfair Game” which was published in 2003.
This captures how Oakland Athletics baseball team extensively used analytics to build a strong team using despite of their disadvantageous financial position. Subsequently, it also became the theme of the movie “Moneyball”.
Most recently at Euro 2012, certain football teams used data analytics quite successfully to capitalise on the weaknesses of the rival teams and win matches.
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According to Mu Sigma, the platform which is in the process of development will take care of the unique needs of the cricket teams in all forms of cricket starting from T20 to test crickets.
The solution could be useful right from the pre-match stage involving team selection, composition and structure to taking tactical and real-time decision on the field.
For example, if a team wins a toss, should it bat first or bowl; who are the players it needs to watch out for; what should be its batting order and score target.
If it decides to field, then what are the best bowling options it has against a particular batsman.
Dhingra said the company is in the process of developing the platform as a value-added solution in addition to the day-to-day works for its clients. The platform the historical information of about 5-6 years of various teams based on various metrics such as bowling, batting and fielding.
“We also want to incorporate external factors like the stadium at which the match is being played, weather condition, home crowd and time of play among others,” said Aditya Kumbakonam, a senior manager who is part of the team that is developing the solution at Mu Sigma.
Founded in 2004, Mu Sigma provides analytics services to companies across multiple businesses like marketing, supply chain and risk analysis. The company is backed by private equity majors like General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital.
India is a leading analytics services provider among the major offshore destinations with a market share of close to 70 per cent. By 2015, Indian analytics service providers are expected to services worth $1.15 billion, according to a recent report by Avendus Capital.