INTERVIEW
Follow UsDespite not having much success as a unit, Punjab Kings have been one of the most active teams on the auction table and have managed to pick some interesting players in their roster. Ahead of the 2022 edition, they struck the arrow in the perfect position to gather a winning combination, to be led by Mayank Agarwal, whose batting in the T20 format has evolved in the right way. Cricket.com caught up with Sankar Rajgopal, an R&D consultant and scout for Punjab Kings in the IPL, to understand the dynamics of the squad selection, the role of an analyst, and what goes behind the formation of the franchise.
What were your expectations from the role and how was your transition from broadcast analytics to being the analyst for PBKS?
Prior to joining the broadcast team at Star Sports, I worked at Sports Mechanics, where I had the opportunity to carry out various back-end analysis for a few IPL teams. This helped me get a good understanding of how IPL teams work and the gaps that I felt needed to be filled. The main gap is that an IPL team's analysts/analytics team worked predominantly on a short term basis, with a majority of them working just before the IPL auction. I tried to address this need by pitching the notion of a full-time analytics team, focusing on recruiting, scouting, data modelling and analysis to a few IPL franchises and Punjab's then-new coach Anil Kumble loved the idea and brought me on board.
What are the most challenging aspects of the role of an analyst?
It probably would be understanding the coach's vision for the team and marrying it with the data. Every coach has his / her wants and reservations, some of them maybe data-driven and some not so. It is my job to understand the philosophy of the coach, the sort of data he is looking for, and then collate relevant data and provide my inputs to the coaches so that they can make an informed decision. Once your coach is on-board, it is simpler for it to trickle down to the players. Anil Kumble, our coach at Punjab Kings, understands the importance of data analytics and prefers to see everything before making a decision.
Give us an overview of the PBKS scouting process. How big is the team, and how active is it in terms of travelling to tournaments and scouting talent?
The scouting team includes the cricket operation team of Punjab Kings as well as local scouts who are employed on a short term basis. The local scouts are usually ex-players or coaches with knowledge of domestic players in that region. They are briefed to look for a range of predefined attributes based on squad gaps. We urge them to keep an eye out for players who offer something unique, whether it is a hitter, a mystery spinner or a person who handles pressure - some of which might be subjective.
What steps do PBKS take once a player has been identified?
Closer to the auction, we hold a minimum of two to three camps where most of the identified players come and our coaches assess them live. The list is then filtered based on their performance and some of them are considered in our auction planning. Once the squad is final after the auctions, we continuously keep track of their fitness levels and performances. Pre-tournament practise sessions get a lot more detail-oriented and involve match simulations and player-specific training drills. For instance, a left-arm spinner practising bowling to left-handers, a leg-side dominant player looking to hit only through the off side etc. This is to try and prepare the players for any given match situation.
What do you look for when scouting? Do you have any pointers in mind? Looking to understand diff thought processes.
We look out for a player’s USP. It might be the player's ability versus away the spin, how he deals with "good balls" (which can be subjective) or the range of strokes/regions he gets his runs in. For bowlers, we look at how he bowls when there is an LH-RH pair at the crease, fields that he sets, how he adapts to his unfavourable matchups, etc.
Ravi Bishnoi was a standout selection for PBKS. What drew you to Ravi Bishnoi? How did you persuade the team's management to select him in the auction? Could you please elaborate on that?
Ravi Bishnoi was scouted based on one of the principles of what works in IPL, which is someone who bowls fast wrist spin and frequently bowls the googly. His height, his bent knee and quick pace results in low bounce and hitters usually struggle to get underneath the ball. We took a chance with him in his first season and we are glad to see how well he has progressed. It is great to see him play for the country now.
How do you assess your team's post-season?
It's a really rigorous process in which we examine each match and its momentum swings, and consider variables such as start time, dew, etc. We also try to determine if a mistake on the field is an isolated event or there is a larger fact pattern involved. This also has a bearing on player retention and getting the team ready for the next auctions.
Do individual players trust data insights? Is there any stigma around analysts involved in the game? And what truly needs to be done for data to take the next step in cricket?
I believe players have acknowledged that analytics is something they must get on board with because of how technical the sport has gotten in recent years and most of them see how analytics helps improve their game. Players are aware of matchups and the kind of bowlers they must takedown. At the same time, you don't want to clog their minds with information because, at the end of the day, it's an instinctive game. The challenge for the analyst/coach is to see what works for a particular player and feed them information that might benefit them.
For example, let's say a player has been striking poor vs spin in a particular season and it appeared to be because he stopped using his feet; this is the type of information that coaches may utilise to gradually work on the player over time. So it's crucial to discover what works on a short-term and long-term basis, as well as what may aid the player. If overloading the player with information isn't going to help him, there's no sense in giving it to him. However, some players like a lot of information, such as viewing footage of how they bat versus a specific bowling type and in case of bowlers, how they construct an over etc.
How important do you think is fielding to a team’s success in T20 cricket? Does the importance of fielding vary according to the different formats of cricket?
Personally, I believe that fielding is not as crucial as fieldsets and player positioning. While fielding is how one covers an area, having the correct fielder in the right spot for a specific bowler is vital and this might be based on conditions, bowler and batter.
Analysts on Twitter frequently discuss away spin, pace vs spin strengths/weaknesses, and matchups in general. Is there anything else critical that is considered during decision making, and if so, what is it?
I'm pro-stats, but I believe, in certain cases, they don't really reflect the quality/type of bowling. For example, Chahal and Bishnoi are both classified as leg spinners but what they do is vastly different. Bishnoi is effectively an off-spinner to LHB, sort of firing it across, whilst Chahal is a more traditional leggie who may bowl the odd straighter one but slow through the air. This is where I believe the stats need to evolve and be able to differentiate the bowling of Rashid, Bishnoi and Chahal even though they are all classified as leg-spinners.
We have seen bowling teams sneak an over in with their part-timers in the first over or in the 7th over. What's your view on that? Do batters prepare for those situations and be aggressive against them or do they play their natural role/game?
I believe batters are aware of these overs but they continue to play their game on instinct. The first, seventh, and eleventh overs are under-indexed from a run-rate standpoint, something teams are aware of, but do not fully exploit for a variety of reasons.
We have a lot of statistical data analysis to show that T20 batting is conservative right now. And teams like England have tried to capitalize on it by batting aggressively or with "intent." What does a typical IPL think-tank think about such analysis, are they trying to capitalize on the statistical analysis?
Yes, if you look at the number of boundaries hit throughout the years and the run rate, the graph is only going up. We know that T20 is developing in that regard but the quality of bowling at the IPL is quite high and what excellent hitters do is recognise which balls to hit and which ones to avoid and not try to smash every ball. And this comes from their experience, judgement, intuition and so on.
My personal belief is that it's all about constructing a winning score. Assume you're playing at Wankhede, where the average score is 160 and the winning score is 180, which implies you win more frequently than not when you score 180. What I'd do next is inform the coach that 180 is the winning requirement and then it's up to the players to decide how they want to go about constructing that winning score.
Give us an overview of how PBKS or an IPL team, in general, approaches an auction and prepares for it.
It's all about recognising what's available in the market and putting it to use for your own benefit. We studied previous auctions to analyse spending patterns for various roles, of different teams and coaches. We also held multiple mock auctions to simulate various scenarios that gave us an understanding of what to expect at the auction table and helped us estimate the potential cost of players.
At the fundamental level, you must decide what type of cricket you want to play and what the coach's vision is - it might be a bowling heavy team, a batting team, or a combination of the two. Once you've established that, it helps the analyst put together a team.
How does a franchise go on about valuing and recruiting players in the auction? How important is player valuation compared to the game-theoretical aspect of the auction?
The price at which a player is sold does not always reflect his ability. If you're evaluating a player for a team, you're valuing his role, the scarcity of the role and the order in the set - all of these factors influence the price of a player. At this auction, it was important not to have a fixed plan but to have a plan that was dynamic enough to adapt to any situation.
How different was this year's recruitment strategy at the auction versus previous years?
In previous mini auctions, it was more about filling gaps and the cost implications were different because the quality isn’t spread evenly. This time, we retained only two players and went into the mega auction with an almost clean slate. Keeping in mind that there may never be another mega auction, we put together a squad with future potential - players who can grow with the franchise and potentially win us the trophy. The average age of our squad is 25, which makes us the youngest squad in the IPL. At the same time, it was also critical to have a few senior players who will provide a stable foundation for the younger players and the franchise.
Can you shed some light on Dan Weston's role in your auction preparation and recruitment process?
Dan is someone who values data over a player’s reputation. Because of his lack of bias, I thought he'd be a terrific individual to have as a part of our team and act as a sounding board and to challenge management's opinions on certain players. He has specific modelling tools that assisted us in better understanding of player profiles and performance projections, as well as forming intelligent inferences. It was an absolute pleasure to work with him.
