Blog Posts by Impact Index

By Jatin Thakkar and Jaideep Varma

Australia 158; Sri Lanka 152/2 (Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets under D/L Method)

The scorecard of the match is here.

Sri Lanka delivered a Team Bowling IMPACT of 4.31 in the first innings as compared to Australia's Team Batting IMPACT 0.98 to seal the match. Sri Lanka's batting was a mere formality as they won the match with almost 17 overs and 8 wickets to spare.

All figures between 0 and 5 unless otherwise mentioned.

Sri Lanka:

Australia:

*Figures in the brackets represent the players' Match IMPACT when it is not restricted between 0 and 5, as it is in a career context.

Observations:

Farveez Maharoof delivered the highest-impact performance in the match (Match IMPACT 8.36*) followed by Thisara Perera (6.25*) and Rangana Herath (4.18) to finish the match in the first innings itself. Maharoof bowled very tightly (Economy IMPACT) to give away just 18 runs in his 8 overs and took 2 wickets besides having taken two catches.

However, Perera was ridiculously declared

Read More »from First win for Sri Lanka

By Jatin Thakkar and Soham Sarkhel

CB Series: India V Sri Lanka 5th ODI at Adelaide; 14th February 2012

Sri Lanka 236/9; India 236/9 (Match tied)

The scorecard of the match is here.

All figures between 0 and 5 unless otherwise mentioned.

INDIA:

SRI LANKA:

*Figures in the brackets represent the players’ Match IMPACT when it is not restricted between 0 and 5, as it is in a career context.

Observations:
The highest Impact performance in the match came from Gautam Gambhir (Match IMPACT 6.31*) and was closely followed by MS Dhoni (5.57*) and Dinesh Chandimal (5.13*). Gambhir’s knock of 91 runs off 106 balls (Batting IMPACT 5.81*) was a display of a complete batting performance as he scored at a faster rate (Strike Rate IMPACT) than the match norm, absorbed pressure to ensure India didn’t slip into a trough after Tendulkar’s early wicket (Pressure IMPACT), built partnerships (Partnership Building IMPACT) as well as a strong base for India’s chase (Chasing IMPACT).

However, MS Dhoni was declared as

Read More »from Gambhir again the highest impact player

By Jatin Thakkar and Soham Sarkhel 

Australia 269/8; India 270/6 in 49.4 overs (India won by 4 wickets)

The scorecard of the match is here.

India finally for the first time on this tour managed to beat a Michael Clarke led Australian team after they successfully chased down a stiff target of 270 runs with four wickets in hand. The win definitely spices up the race for the top spot in the points table with both Australia and India now having suffered a loss each. However Australia still find themselves placed at the top of the table on virtue of their bonus point over India in the first ODI of the CB Series.

Overall, India’s Team IMPACT in the match was 1.77 as compared to Australia’s 1.67.

All figures between 0 and 5 unless otherwise mentioned.

AUSTRALIA:

INDIA:

*Figures in the brackets represent the players’ Match IMPACT when it is not restricted between 0 and 5, as it is in a career context.

Observations:
Poking, shrivelling, edging are generally the terms one would come to recognise Gautam

Read More »from Dhoni, Gambhir lead India through a thrilling chase

By Jatin Thakkar and Soham Sarkhel

Australia 231; Sri Lanka 226 (Australia won by 5 Runs)

The scorecard of the match is here.

Australia managed to notch up their second victory of the CB series after a late fight back by Angelo Mathews and the Lankan team almost thwarted their efforts earlier in the day. The win further solidifies Australia's lead at the top of the table.

In the match, Australia had a Team IMPACT of 2.16 whereas Sri Lanka's was 2.07.

All figures between 0 and 5 unless otherwise mentioned.

Australia:

Sri Lanka:

*Figures in the brackets represent the players' Match IMPACT when it is not restricted between 0 and 5, as it is in a career context.

Observations:

Angelo Mathews was the player with the highest IMPACT (7.30*) in the match with his all-round performance (Both Batting and Bowling IMPACT above 1) His rear-guard attack with the Sri Lankan tail-enders almost managed to gift them a victory which seemed improbable at a point of time.

Another player who impressed with his

Read More »from Australia edge Sri Lanka in a nervy thriller

By Jatin Thakkar and Soham Sarkhel

The 2012 edition of the IPL auction started off in the worst possible note with Sahara, owners of the Pune Warriors outfit, backing out from the event at the last minute. The double whammy however came later when they also decided to terminate their contract as the sponsor of the Indian cricket team ending an alliance which started off in 2001.  One of the main reasons for Sahara’s withdrawal from the auction can be pointed towards the IPL governing council for not crediting the amount of money invested in Yuvraj Singh by the team to their auction purse after the Pune skipper was ruled out of the tournament.

The auction however did turn out to be an entertaining affair with 8 teams bidding for the auction listed players with a maximum spending power of 20,00,000 US Dollars per franchisee.  There were some shock buys amongst the more expected ones while some teams failed to adhere to their team’s requirement. Our earlier report brought out how some of

Read More »from A few rights in most wrongs

By Jatin Thakkar and Soham Sarkhel

Pakistan’s Team IMPACT on the game was 2.53 while England’s reached 2.03.

The test series which was heralded as England’s coming to the fore after their ascendancy to the top of the ICC Test rankings ended in a bitter disappointment for them after they were whitewashed 3-0 by the rampant Pakistani side. The Pakistani spinners managed to stranglehold the English batsmen on batting friendly tracks whereas the renowned English pace attack failed to deliver barring the first innings of the third test match in the entire series.

The IMPACT scorecard for the match.

All figures between 0 to 5.

* In a career context, these figures will be restricted between 0 and 5, with 5 as the highest on the IMPACT Index scale. In a match context though, the unrestricted figures tell their own stories.

Match (and Series) Observations:

Abdur Rehman was declared as the bowler of the match for his five wicket haul in the first innings even as Panesar, Ajmal and Gul had a higher

Read More »from Ajmal, Rehman lead England rout

By Jatin Thakkar and Soham Sarkhel

Disasters often strike without any prior warnings. Sadly in the case of India, the English precursor to what might happen to them in Australia was blissfully ignored. The result, a 4-0 whitewash against the Aussies. Fearing the diminishing interest in the sub-continent the broadcast provider- in this case STAR Cricket wasted no time in airing a promo and tried to rekindle interest amongst the viewers. After all it’s the World Champions facing off against the World Cup runners up and the Aussies side by side.

Sadly though, all the three teams are just a shadow of their former self especially when it comes to their overseas ODI performances. The fact that all the three teams have lost their last overseas one day series shows their susceptibility to foreign conditions. That being said, this series would indeed be the perfect foil for all the three teams to get their act right. With all the three teams riding high on their youth quotient, the youngsters

Read More »from Australia, India hold the edge, Sri Lanka the dark horses

By Jaideep Varma and Jatin Thakkar

That the conventional statistical system in cricket of averages and aggregates is skewed is widely agreed. It has been so for years, decades even. However, in the five-day version, because of the nature of the format, the players who normally went up the averages list were usually the best ones, so no one fretted too much. One-Day-Internationals changed that a bit – not outs skewed things considerably but other measures (like tallies of centuries and wickets) were usually summoned up to differentiate between players.

The T20 format has comprehensively queered the pitch. All the skews are wildly magnified. No one knows what the standard measures are anymore. Centuries are a rarity as are four or five wicket hauls. Regular not outs render averages way-off-centre. Strike rates mean nothing by themselves, nor do economy rates. The result is that no one knows who the best T20 players in the world are, in internationals or in domestics, not in a sustained or

Read More »from The T20 Lie