This is in continuation of my previous post   where I had indicated a scheme of extension of the old concept of “Naavi’s Cricket Rating” (NCR) to IPL.

NCR was developed in the context of the World Cup 1999 and also tried out in World Cup 2003. The objective of NCR was to integrate the performances over Batting, Bowling and Fielding performances of the players and evaluate it in the context of how the performance measures in the context of the team goals. When it was first introduced in 1999, it was a unique system and no other rating system adopted similar thoughts. In the last decade some of the other ratings have imbibed some of the thoughts inherent in the NCR system though a couple of parameters used in NCR still remain novel. Hence NCR-2014 with any minor modifications that may be required in the current context can still be a good evaluation tool for measuring the performance of players. This can be used for determining the Man of the Match and Man of the Tournament based on field performances.

What is presently being proposed is to add one more important parameter for evaluating the value of the player to a team. Since in IPL, the team owner incurs and expenditure on each of the players, it is reasonable to expect that the players perform to the potential reflected in their valuation. This may not be very critical for the public but will be so for the team owners.

In this system of “Naavi’s Value Adjusted Performance Evaluation System” (NVAPES), the NCR is adjusted with a value parameter based on the cost of the player.

It is obvious that in this system, the players who have earned more price in the auctions /retention will get lower score for a given performance when compared to cheaper players. Hence a 100 scored by Yuvraj Singh (Value Rs 1400 lakhs) will be far less in value than a similar 100 scored by say Manish Pandey(Rs 170 lakhs).

The main reason why the undersigned considers this system of valuation as a better means of evaluating the “IPL King-2014” is that it will give greater opportunity for lesser fortunate players who failed to get a fair price for their capabilities in the auction to show case their performance for future use. May be in the coming days BCCI may do away with differential pricing for “Capped” and “Uncapped players” which is a serious lacuna in the current system and instead rank the players for future auctions based on their value adjusted performance in the previous IPL tournaments.

This system may also help in evaluating the players during inter team transfers if permitted.

Additionally the system can be extended to a program for monetizing the player investments made by the team owners on the players. This scheme needs to be explored further since it cannot be introduced except as a program of the BCCI, while the NVAPES can be introduced as a promotional game with or without the involvement of BCCI. I leave discussion of this “Monetization Scheme” to a future article.

In the meantime, I invite suggestions from readers on the implementation of the system during the forthcoming IPL. If there is a good business partner, the system can be commercially harnessed.

Naavi

Naavi had during 1999 cricket world cup promoted a concept of “Naavi’s Cricket Rating” which was designed with many innovations not otherwise available at that time. This was originally developed to assist advertising cients with a  tool to promote their brand around a public promotion scheme involving a scientific identification of the “Player of the Tournament”.  A revised version was also used during the 2007 world cup successfully.

Since the creation of IPL, the undersigned has been thinking about how to create a system of true valuation of a player based on performance as against the prices paid by different teams for different players.

Now with the completion of the recent auction for IPL 2014, the undersigned is trying to develop a new system where the performance based rating would be used along with the price of each player at the time of action to develop a “Value Index” for the players.

Apart from developing the value index for the sake of following the cost linked performance of the players, it is also envisaged that a collateral system where by the teams can develop a system of monetizing the player cost into a derivative instrument and raise finance either for  a temporary period as working capital or for a longer period.

This scheme would provide a different dimension to the player valuation in which public will provide their own perception of the value of the player. This may help teams when they need to trade the player between teams or when their contracts are to be renewed in future. Additionally, funds raised may help in optimizing the resources so that the team can reap a benefit on their investments.

The grand scheme drawn up requires complete cooperation from BCCI since there could be legal issues involved in the successful running of the scheme. However limited use of the rating system for evaluating the investments made on the players and using the information as part of the brand promotion and marketing activities of a large corporate entity would be feasible outside the BCCI regulations.

The scheme would require running of a software application and ability to invest in marketing and also harness the benefits.

The undersigned would be happy to discuss possibilities with interested companies who may contact the undersigned at naavi@vsnl.com

Naavi