The spectacle of the Indian Premier League is about to start. There are people who would rather be skinned alive than watch the IPL. Then there are others who trolled through the darkest corners of the internet to find a place where they could watch the IPL because SKY for whatever reason would not or could not show it. Now apparently BT has bought the rights. It is apparently available on Star Gold through SKY. It can also be streamed from Hotstar. SKY has probably done a huge faux pas in losing the telecast rights.

One of the general comments is that this IPL will be different because of the World Cup and the elections in India. This IPL is more exciting for me already because of the number and quality of articles and stats this year. Ben Jones, Patrick Noone and Freddie Wilde have done an amazing job at CricViz. Then there is Himanish Ganjoo who writes for Cricbuzz. He offers a different perspective on the IPL. I loved his article on Decoding the value of batsmen. It is a must read. CricViz are the Masters of Cricket Analysis but Cricbuzz is getting there. Cricbuzz is unbeatable when it comes to the coverage of the IPL. I truly wish Cricbuzz would provide stronger international content. Then comes Vithushan Ehantharajah who writes a truly brilliant piece. He has an amazing skill of putting domestic events into an international context. His article on Professional betting is a must read. If this is the way things have started then I cannot wait to see how it progresses.

Last year I tested my Cricket Portfolio Index on the IPL. I did not do the full series. I have made the necessary tweaks and I will be running the whole tournament. I use my main index to judge the best Test team and players because I believe that the ICC ranking is flawed. There is no need to do that in the IPL because the criteria for winning is clear. I will be focussing on the best players in the tournament. These may not be the holders of the purple and orange caps. I will also be creating what I think is the best team based on my index. I will be using a fantasy cricket style system to formulate my team. I will be picking players based on the following criteria

1) Foreign Players: Minimum one player and a maximum of four.

2) Wicket Keeper: One designated Keeper although another Keeper can be considered as a batsman if his batting is good enough. In this scenario the fielding points scored by the person will be converted to fielding points which may change the players score.

3) Batsmen: A minimum of three batsmen and a maximum of five can be chosen.

4) All-Rounders: A minimum of one and a maximum of three can be chosen.

5) Bowlers: A minimum of three and a maximum of five can be chosen.

6) Teams: There is no limit on the number of players from a team.

7) Batting Position: This will be based on where the player most commonly bats at. If there is a significant difference between two batsmen then I will consider a different position for the player.

8) Bowling Options: There should be a minimum of two seamers and two spinners in the team. These can be bowlers as well as all-rounders.

My index is based on factors. Different factors have different weights. I will give a detailed methodology in another post. I look forward to a great tournament over the next few weeks especially the analysis. Let the games begin.