Modern Crickets Dilemma: A Case on Experimental Design1 Class is permanent and form is temporary!

- A common quote in cricket

This quote is something often used when a world class batsman is going through a lean patch. It is also believed that whatever be the format- a test match2, a one day international (ODI)3 or a T204 match- a world class batsman will always perform better than a mediocre player. But do world class batsmen necessarily perform better than those who are average or rookies5? The decline in the number of world class batsmen since the mid 2000s has been a source of worry for the Global Cricket Council(GCC). A report on emerging players across the globe has indicated that since the mid 2000s very few young players have emerged who can step into the shoes of players like Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis or Ricky Ponting. It is almost impossible to find a news article related to cricket on news channels, in cricket magazines or on cricket websites, where an expert is not lamenting about the impending death of the sport. Twenty20 (T20) matches initiated by the IPL6 emerged on the cricket scene since 2008, and were an unqualified success right from the start. T20 domestic tournaments have also been gaining immense popularity in countries such as the
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This is a fictitious case and is meant for use for classroom discussion in the BRM course in the Post Graduate level only 2 A format of cricket played over 5 days where each team gets a chance to bat twice. Whichever team scores the most runs both innings combined, wins 3 A shorter version of cricket where each team gets the chance to bat only once and for 50 overs. The team which scores the most runs in their allocated 50 overs, wins the match 4 The shortest version of Cricket where each team gets the chance to bat only once and for 20 overs. The team which scores the most runs in their allocated 20 overs, wins the match 5 Rookie: Players who have played less than 20 1st class matches Average: Players who have played more than 20 1st class matches but are not in the national teams World Class: International players 6 The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional league for T20 Cricket competition in India. It was initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). It is currently contested by 10 teams consisting of players from around the world.

West Indies, England, South Africa and Pakistan. International T20 matches too are becoming popular and attracting more spectators than the test matches.7 The GCC appointed a committee of experts, who have an in-depth knowledge of the game, to investigate why no world class test batsman is coming up the ranks since the introduction of T20 matches. The experts identified that the increase in the number of T20 cricket matches and IPL had actually shifted the focus of the players from the traditional game of Test cricket to the shortest version of the game, T20. It is difficult to say when this trend actually started. Perhaps Indias victory in the 2007 World Cup was the trigger that set in motion the decay in world cricket and led to the birth of the IPL and the T20 Champions Trophy.8 The committee was of the opinion that players could be classified as rookie, average, or world class, depending upon their past performances in the different forms of the game. They also opined that a rookie or an average player could compete on a par with any world class player in the shortest version of the game. With T20 cricket (initiated by the IPL) becoming the main source of income over the last few years, budding cricketers (with the potential to become world class batsmen in the longer version of games) are focusing more on surviving in the T20 matches. One does not need to be a world class player to succeed and earn money in this form of the game. According to a report, the IPL pay packets for a period of 4 weeks each year are higher than those offered by cricket boards across the globe to most players for the duration of an entire year.9 It is quite obvious that money will drive player behavior and choices. Imagine if you were an Indian fast bowler with a history of injuries. You know that if you
7 8 9

Yogesh Upadhyay, Decline of Test Cricket, www.livemint.com, April22, 2008 Ourview: The Problem with Cricket, www.livemint.com, Nov 2, 2011 Yogesh Upadhyay, Decline of Test Cricket, www.livemint.com, April22, 2008

perform relatively well for a span of 2 to 3 weeks every year, you have the chance of grabbing a much higher pay package during the next auction as well. Would you then like to play Test cricket where you may be required to bowl more than 50 overs in the blazing sun in each match? Your logical choice would be to play one Test and treat it as a practice game for the T20s. Clearly, the long-term choices of young and budding players will be influenced by the format of the game. As a child who wants to make it big in the world of cricket, would somebody like to become a Suresh Raina or a VVS Laxman? Laxman has been a regular in the Test team, while Raina is a star in the ODIs and T20s, but has failed miserably in Test matches. However, Raina earns almost twice as much as Laxman does from his IPL contract. So who would the budding cricketers like to emulate? To verify the claim made by the committee on the dilemma posed by money (through T20) in the game, an experiment was conducted by the GCC at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. A sample of 20 players each was chosen for the three competence categories (both Indian and international) from the IPL teams. These players were divided into three levels of competence (rookie, average, and world class) depending on their ability to face the bowling from an automated bowling machine (Exhibit 1). The automated bowling machine was adjusted to bowl almost all types of deliveries that a batsman might face in a match including fast balls, swinging balls, and all types of spin balls. Two different conditions were created one resembling Test cricket conditions and the other resembling T20 with the help of field settings, dress code, music played, etc. The experiment predicted that whereas world class players performed much better than the rookie and mediocre batsmen under Test match conditions as they watched the balls carefully. this superiority disappeared when they tried to slog the balls to improve the run rate under T20 settings. The runs these batsmen scored after 100 balls (if

the batsman was able to survive till then) were noted down for both the formats. The experiment was carried out on different days to minimize fatigue and control the effect of one format on the other as the sample was the same. The results are given in the following table: Table 1: Runs Scored by the Batsmen in Different Scenarios Situation Competence

Rookie

Average

World Class

Test Match 38 39 42 40 40 65 58 70 61 62 88 95 86 89 89 42 37 38 40 38 58 63 66 62 65 88 90 85 92 86 39 37 35 36 42 57 65 63 64 61 89 87 85 84 92 41 38 36 39 41 58 62 71 69 67 84 81 86 87 91 T20 Match 50 53 40 41 36 50 40 43 37 38 41 40 50 42 41 47 46 51 45 36 41 51 38 42 36 43 39 45 47 31 48 45 52 37 39 40 48 49 44 47 44 42 46 51 39 42 44 46 44 45 42 44 38 37 43 43 46 41 44 45

Suggested Questions for class discussion: 1. What are the dependent and independent variables in this case? 2. What do you notice about the distribution of data among the three levels of Competence for each level of Situation? 3. What do you notice about the values of the means for the two levels of Situation across the three levels of Competence?

4. Do these results confirm the predictions of the GCCs investigating committee from inspection of the output using the Means procedure? 5. Relate these results to the experimental hypothesis on the performance of World Class players in the two different scenarios. Reference: 1. Ourview: The problem with Cricket, www.livemint.com, Nov 2, 2011 2. Kevin Mitchell, Twenty20 cash-grab is proving costly to Australia's Test prospects, http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/jan/09/twenty-20-

australia-test-england, January 9, 2011. 3. Yogesh Upadhyay, Decline of Test Cricket, www.livemint.com, April22, 2008 Exhibit1. An Automated Bowling Machine