World Test Championship 2021-2023

TASK

To build a two-page interactive dashboard which provide a complete overview of World Test Championship cycle 2021-23 and perform an in-depth analysis of the performance exhibited by all participating teams throughout the cycle

APPROACH

Data Collection: The necessary data, including innings, overall records, matches, batting records, bowling records, and partnership records, was collected from ESPNcricinfo.

Data Cleaning: The collected data underwent a cleaning process, which involved removing unnecessary columns, eliminating null rows, and eliminating duplicates to ensure data integrity.

Data Processing: Date formats were corrected, and columns were split to separate fields, such as runs scored and wickets fallen. A column for balls was added, and overs were converted into balls for consistency.

Data Modeling: The cleaned and processed datasets were imported into Tableau and connected using the common field of team, facilitating data integration and analysis.

Data Manipulation: Calculated fields were created in Tableau, such as win percentage, and parameters were set to allow for selection of batting field criteria such as runs, high scores, average, and centuries. Grounds were grouped by home/away and region for further analysis.

Data Visualization: The project includes the design of a background template using Figma, which serves as the visual foundation for the dashboards. The dashboarding process involved incorporating multiple sheets into this template.

The project comprises two main dashboards:

1. Tournament Overview: This dashboard aims to address the following questions and provide insights:

• Performance of team captains throughout the tournament.

• Comparison of finalists with other teams, highlighting the reasons for their success.

• Team scores analyzed by innings, grounds and opponents.

• Identification of best partnerships formed during the tournament.

• Evaluation of top-performing batsmen and bowlers.

• Notable bowling figures achieved by players.

• Win percentage against each opponent.

2. Teams Overview: This dashboard focuses on the following questions and delivers relevant information:

• Overview of the series, providing insights into its history and key milestones.

• Timeline showcasing recent historical data and significant events.

• Win percentage overall, as well as when batting first and second, along with associated runs and wickets.

• Analysis of the best win margins and highest team totals.

• In-depth examination of each team's batters and bowlers.

• Average scores achieved by teams on specific grounds and against particular opponents.

By presenting these dashboards, the project offers a comprehensive visual representation of the data, enabling users to gain insights into the tournament as a whole and the performance of individual teams.

Challenges

1. Scraping data from 61 different pages from ESPNcricinfo
2. Incorrect Date Interpretation: Excel considered the "Best Bowling Innings" (BBI) and "Best Bowling Match" (BBM) columns in the bowlers' data as dates.
3. Organizing Sheets in the Dashboard.
4. Selection of the theme and background for the dashboard which can be in the flow of the context

Solutions

1. Automated the scraping process using web extension and cross verified the random data manually.
2. Used multiple excel filters and conditional formatting to segregate each BBI and BBM
3. A basic template was created on PowerPoint to set the dimension of the different sheets on the dashboard
4. Tried multiple background images and combinations of opacity level to select the theme.

Insights

• Ben Stokes won most of the matches as captain after taking charge from Joe Root. He never drew a match.
• India were the only team to have 5 captains during this 2 year cycle. Rohit Sharma among them was most successful one.
• Dean Elgar was the only captain to have an equal no. Of matches won and lost.
• 3 pace bowlers captained their team in the cycle: Cummins, Bumrah and Southee
• There was a clear difference of approach between the finalists Australia-India and rest of the other team. Both the team at-least won a match in every single series they played.
• India managed to clean sweep twice in the 6 series the played, while Australia did it once.
• South Africa were clean swept once while England and Sri Lanka twice.

Conclusion

The project offers a comprehensive visual representation of the data, enabling users to gain insights into the tournament as a whole and the performance of individual teams.