Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the center of which is a 22-yard (20-meter) pitch.
There is a wicket at each end, comprising two bails balanced on three stumps.
The batting side scores runs by striking the ball bowled at the wicket with the bat, while the bowling and fielding side tries to prevent this and dismiss each player (so they are "out").
Both teams take turns batting. Whichever team scores the most runs, wins the game.
In this project we will focus on the analysis of the Indian Premier League (IPL), an annual cricket league held in India.
The Indian Premier League
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional cricket league in India contested during March, April, and May of every year by 8-10 teams representing eight different cities or states in India.
The league was founded by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2008, and has come a long way since.
As per figures collected by the Times of India, the IPL generates a revenue of $13.4 Million per game, second only to the NFL ($17 Million per game).
Let's get acquainted with the teams then, shall we?
Who have been the most successful teams in the IPL?
Which teams have the highest number of wins
After clicking on a team name in the treemap, we can then visualize the number of wins that team has against other teams.
This is displayed below in the horizontal bar graph:
Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians
The top two teams in the IPL (Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians) have given us some iconic matches over the years.
Like this one, where Mumbai Indians won by 1 run in the final over of the match.
But how have these teams performed on the points table compared to others?
How have MI and CSK performed on the points table?
Do teams who have a high number of total wins also tend to have a higher team ranking over time?
Looking at the below sankey graph, we can see that the two top teams -- Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians -- consistently performed better than the other teams throughout the years.
The performance of both teams also seem to have decreased recently despite their past successes.
To Bat or to Bowl?
While cricket is supposed to be an equal battle between bat and ball, the sport has faced criticism recently for being too batsman-friendly.
One news article even described the league as "a batsman's paradise and bowler's graveyard".
But have there been any batsmen who have particularly stood out over the years?
Exploration of Batsmen Statistics
After looking at team success, we then investigate individual player successes. In the below two graphs, you can explore player performances based on 4 categories:
Total number of Batsman Runs
Total number of Player Outs
Player Average (total number of runs they have scored divided by the number of times they have been out)
Strike Rate (Number of Batsman Runs/Total Number of Balls)
By clicking on the bars of the individual batsmen, you can explore their performance over the years.
Umpires in Cricket
In cricket, each match is presided over by two on-field umpires.
The umpires are responsible for making decisions on all aspects of play, including when a run is scored, when a batsman is out, and when a ball is dead.
The umpires call is final (even if players disagree with the decision).
Given the importance of the umpires, we wanted to explore the umpires who have officiated the most matches.
Which Umpires Officiate More Matches Individually/Together?
How to navigate:
Drag the two nodes (circles) of interest to a separate space so that the specific link (line) between
the two can be seen clearly.
Hover your mouse over each node to see the number of individual matches
officiated, and hover over the link to see the number of matches officiated jointly.
Click the 'Reset Visualization' button to clear the graph or restore its original state.
The network uncovers patterns and frequencies in umpire pairings, shedding light on how certain
pairs may work together more often due to their proven synergy and experience. For instance,
C. Shamshuddin and S. Ravi are well-known cricket umpires from India, where they were both
recognized by the International Cricket Council for their umpiring skills.
Umpire Statistics
Heads is the Call
Every cricket game starts with a toss of a coin. The winner of the toss gets to decide whether they want to bat or bowl first.
While the decision to bat or bowl first may seem trivial, it can have a huge impact on the outcome of the match, giving an advantage to the team that wins the toss.
A lot of factors go into the decision to bat or bowl first, including the weather conditions.
So does humidity affect the decision to bat or bowl first? And could teams make the most of their decision?
Does humidity affect coin toss decision and win rate?
Exploration of Humidity levels for Stadiums in India
Depending on the time and the place, teams would prefer to go first or second due to changing weather conditions. For example, chasing becomes easier in cities located in high humidity regions due to dew on the grass playing a factor
In the below graph, you can explore the humidity various stadium locations depending on the year.
Each circle on the map indicates the city where the stadium is located. The color of the dot indicates the average humidity of all the years. The lighter the blue color the less humid and the darker the more humid.
For easy comparison, the rest of the map is colored to be 50% humidity to easily visualize the cities with higher or lower humidity.
Thank you For Joining us in this Cricket Journey
To know more about cricket and IPL, check out this link
Made with ❤️, by The Three Cricketeers (Kushagra, Helen, and Jiho)