Anil Kumble, Harsha Bhogle launch Castrol index for cricket

Mumbai, May 28 (ANI/Business Wire India): Castrol India today announced the media launch of the Castrol index for cricket, an analytical tool that objectively analyses player and team performances and provides unique insights that enhance understanding and enjoyment of the game.

The Castrol index resides on castrolcricket.com - a website which was successfully test-launched last month and has already had 5.5 lakh unique visitors and 65 lakh page views.

According to Harsha Bhogle, cricket commentator and Brand Ambassador for the Castrol Index, "The Castrol index provides differentiated analysis and information that sheds new light on how the game is played and won. The Castrol index provides unique insights into the performance of players and teams - specifically what makes some of them more effective and successful than others. It provides a point of view based on analysis and data not just subjective opinion".

Speaking at the press conference, Anil Kumble, one of the stars of the recent IPL said, "The Castrol index seems to be a great tool to analyse performances in the shorter versions of the game. You can spend hours on the site, using the Index to compare performances of individual players and teams. It should also be quite a useful tool to players wanting an in depth analysis on what leads to a winning performance".

The Castrol index which is specifically developed for the shorter versions of the game (T20 and ODIs), takes into account all aspects of the player's game i.e. batting, bowling and fielding.

Players in the shorter formats are required to perform in all departments of the game, not just in their specialized skill or core areas and the Castrol index therefore takes into consideration the player's all round performance. The Castrol index offers statistics, insights, information and knowledge which helps fans easily understand what it takes to create a winning performance.

The Castrol index tracks both player and team performances separately. It enables fans to track their favourite team's or player's all-round cumulative performance or even compare two teams or players on the basis of their performance in various aspects of the game.

The Castrol Player Index classifies every player as a batsman, bowler or all-rounder, based on his core skill. Fielding and wicket-keeping are considered non-core or enabler skills for all players. Base points are awarded to a player for his core skills and bonus points are awarded for his non-core skills.

The Castrol Team Index focuses on a team's cumulative Batting Momentum and Bowling Efficiency across a set of matches. Batting Momentum is a combination of total runs scored and the rate (runs per ball) at which those runs are scored while Bowling Efficiency is a combination of total wickets taken and the economy rate (runs per over).

Additionally, the Castrol Team Index also factors in the batting and bowling performances for a team in the first six overs - Quickstart Batting or Bowling and last five overs - Extreme Performance Batting or Bowling.

There is also a factor in the Castrol index called Extreme Pressure Performance (EPP), which determines a team's consistency, in winning close matches. So a team may have a higher Castrol Team Index than a competitor team but when you factor in both teams' EPP, the Team with the better EPP, may actually rate higher on the Castrol Index. (ANI)