Krick3r - Cricket with K: PSL

Tournament Journey of Last 4 in PSL 2019

League Round of 4^th Edition of Pakistan Super League has been concluded and it has come down to 4 teams to claim the title. A perfect time to look back at how the teams ebbed and flowed at the points table during the league round and here’s a quick look at it:

More than skill and experience, its often form and momentum of a team that decides its fate in a tournament scenario. The above view provides a good avenue to review the last 4 teams, on the same basis.

Let’s review the last 4, one by one:

QUETTA GLADIATORS has been, by far, the most consistent side of PSL4. They were the first team to qualify for the next round. Although, lost the top position at the end, they remained at the top of the table during most part of the league round. That the lowest their ranking dipped this season was 3^rd spot, is a statement in itself about their dominance and consistency in this season.

They lost both their games against Karachi. Its only the second time that Quetta has lost both the league games to a team in any season – Islamabad did it in 2017. The other team that managed to beat them, this season, was Lahore. Interestingly, Lahore has not managed to win more than 3 games in any PSL season but they have managed to beat Quetta once in all seasons except 2017.

For the first time since PSL1, it’s the first time Quetta Gladiators are going into the last round of the tournament with full squad. All their foreign players have come to Pakistan saving them from their usual pain of fielding replacement overseas players in the most crucial phase of the tournament. Their daring calls to pick Sohail Tanvir, Umar Akmal and Ahmad Shahzad have paid off, Watson is in form and one of the masters of the format, DJ Bravo has also joined them to bolster their lineup in the Final stage.

Consistency, depth, experience and line up filled with match winners make Quetta the top contenders for the title this year.

PESHAWAR ZALMI has finished as the top team in the Points Table at the end of League Round for the third time in PSL history. Islamabad United topped the Table in 2018 when Peshawar finished 3^rd, in fact just 1 point ahead of the top team to be disqualified, Multan Sultans.

Peshawar didn’t start off at their dominating best – lost 2, won 2, in the first 4 games. But since then, they have been in in devastating form – losing only 1 out of 6. In the last 2 matches, they have showcased full range of their arsenal as well. Against Lahore, they had the experience of Misbah to rescue them from 20/5 situation, while against Karachi, the brutality of Kamran Akmal at the top, all but nullified the very capable fire power of Karachi’s batting.

Peshawar has peaked, gathered and exploded at, probably, the perfect time in the tournament; fully capable of bursting their way to the trophy.

ISLAMABAD UNITED is the only team – qualified for the next round – with a different captain than the last season and it has reflected in their journey as well. They finished Table Toppers last year but have spent most of the time, this season, right in the middle of the table. They appointed a new captain – someone with not so accomplished captaincy credentials – and then injuries to him forced a young boy – literally – to lead the side. Considering these factors, staying well clear of the bottom of the table for most of part of the season is an achievement in itself.

Last year, their performance was dominant. The right word for their performance this year would be resilient. There’s no lack of star cast in their line up, still, their journey is built more around team spirit, cohesion and coordination.

Going into the business end of the tournament, Islamabad United looks the most spirited side. The kind of spirit where any player on his day could take them to victory against any side.

KARACHI KINGS had, probably, the most remarkable journey this year. Tipped by many as probably the strongest squad on paper, they had the longest stretch by any team this year in the danger-zone (ranked 5 or 6) – that’s right, even longer than Multan Sultans or Lahore Qalandars who eventually got disqualified.

Winning only 2 out of first 6 games, they were seriously slow off the mark. The explosives filled batting lineup not firing, experienced local pacers – Sohail and Shinwari – going all over the place and captain missing out on bowling specialist bowlers - at one stage, Karachi Kings looked certain to be the first team to get knocked out of the qualification race this year.

Then came Colin Ingram’s performance against the most consistent side in the campaign, Quetta Gladiators, and it seemed to have triggered the pack.

Karachi Kings have lost only 2 games out of last 6 and both of them courtesy of exceptional individual performances from the opponent camp – by Asif Ali and Kamran Akmal.

Coming out of near disqualification threat, gaining momentum at the right time and still having a couple of match winners yet to fire (the devastating Colin Munro and Ben Dunk), seriously experienced bowling lineup and above all, the home crowd advantage, Karachi looks far from being just a filler in the list of last 4 standing to claim the title.

To round it off, here’s how teams have fared in this year’s PSL.

Still to come:

Journey of all teams across PSL seasons
Team-wise Form guide across seasons
Review of teams beyond League Round

Want to see specific analysis or have a specific query?
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PSL3 Points Table Predictor

As the tournament approaches half way stage of the league round, the curiosity, discussions and debates have already begun. Fans of Lahore Qalandars are especially interested in permutations and possibilities that can take Lahore Qalandars into the next round.

The good news for LQ fans is that, even after the dismal performance of their team, mathematically, their team is still in the race. What combination of results can take Lahore to the next round? Here's a predictor that provides the means to satisfy that curiosity. All you have to do is to select the winner of remaining matches and the predictor table updates automatically.

Before getting on the game of predictions, do keep in mind a few rules of the game here:

The predicted table predicts the final tally of team points only at the end of league round with no calculation of Run Rates or Net Run Rates.
The final standing of the teams, in case of teams tied at equal points, will be determined by NRR and other subsequent methods applied in PSL.
The default result for all remaining matches have been set to 'abandoned'; this is to answer the hypothetical scenario of what if all the remaining matches are washed out.

That's it. Let the predictions begin, may the calculator be with you.

Published in ScoreLine on February 27, 2017

The objective was to bring back International Cricket not the PSL (without International Players). PSL without its foreign players on the roster is as good as a domestic tournament that can neither have nor it has any influence of bringing International Cricket back to Pakistan.
http://scoreline.asia/psl-final-in-lahore-an-emotional-blunder/

PSL 2016 - Players Impact Recap

With Islamabad United convincingly defeating Quetta Gladiators, PSL 2016 has come to an end. Here is a look at the performers in PSL 2016 based on T20 Performance Impact Method

TOP Players

All Players

Team Aggregates

PSL 3rd Play Off - More than just a Play-Off

One game away from the Final, PSL couldn't have pulled out a better competition than that of between Islamabad United and Peshawar Zalmi.

On the face of it, its just another game, another encounter between two competing sides to meet the Finalist. Beneath the surface, its going to be a battle of approaches, materialization of that hypothetical scenario that is favorite point of debate for all Pakistani fans, the debate that is never ending and that never got its deserving stage to be put under assessment. The bleak probability of this contest happening again, at a stage as big as this, is what raises the stakes even higher. Its more of a winner takes all and that too for once for all.

Its not just about Peshawar and Islamabad. Its not about being United or being Zalmi either.
Its about the team Misbah and the team Afridi. For years and years, these two immovable stalwarts of Pakistan Cricket have been seen not only just as players but a face to a playing strategy as well. They are seen as torch bearers of two approaches that fall at 180 degree offset of each other. Nothing can define the contrast more than the tag names itself - the tuk tuk and the boom boom

What we can expect? On one side, we can expect to see the classical fearless - at times, to the extent of senseless as well - sprint to the pole and on the other side we can expect the considerate walk to victory. If there was any possibility of creating the Cricketing version of "The Hare and The Tortoise" story, then it will never get a better opportunity to be materialized than tonight.

Its going to be an All-Pakistani version of classic 'Flare versus Method' in all senses. Probably something very close to Pakistan vs South Africa Semi Final back in 2009 T20 World Cup. At that time, it was the flare that got better of the method. What happens here is yet to be seen.

But whatever happens, it is going to be one most remembered and referred game in that Afridi vs Misbah debate for years to come. Who comes out on top and walks away with the bragging rights? The revelation is just a few hours away. Fasten your seat belts and get ready for the ride.

PSL 2016 - Player Impact View

As the first round of PSL came to an end and the play offs are about to begin, here is the summary of Player performances based on T20 Performance Impact method

Overall

Teams and Players

For details on calculation method, click here

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PSL 2016 - Player Impact View

T20 Cricket is all about impact. It can change within a space of few deliveries. The shorter length of the format shortens the overall impact of career stats, reputations and names as well.

Same theme has been seen in Pakistan Super League as well. The league has already produced incidents of rookie or unknown players making irreversible impact on the game within the space of few deliveries. At the same time, the league has also produced incidents of lesser rated players making a lasting impact on the outcome of a match.

It is this dimension of the game that makes the traditional method of stats and numbers somewhat incomplete, not necessarily showing the complete picture of the impact of a player in a game. To extract a more meaningful picture of out of raw stats, an impact rating method was designed to get Player Impact View out of those performance stats.

When applied on PSL 2016 performance stats, here is the ranking of players generated through this impact rating method:

* includes stats up to Quetta vs Peshawar, February 14, 2016

Similarly, applying the method specifically for Batting and Bowling stats produced the following views:

At this point, it is worth keeping in mind that all these ratings are calculated on per match basis, therefore, it reflects the average impact each player has made in each of the games he has played.

The above graphics give pretty good idea about the top performing players in the tournament but it is only a part of the picture. To get the full context of these ratings and rankings, it would need to be compared with the Player Impact Rating of each and every other player in the tournament.

So here is the outcome of impact rating method, segregated on each team level for the sake of clarity and ease of understanding.

Quetta Gladiators:

Peashawar Zalmi:

Islamabad United:

Karachi Kings:

Lahore Qalandars:

Finally, to have a look at players of which teams are making the highest impact and which areas, here is what we get after adding up individual player impact of each team: