It is a newly-developed statistical system used in the game of cricket to determine the accurate worth of a player's performance, both in a match and team context.

It measures the impact of a cricketer's performance in a specific match on a scale of 0 to 5 against entirely objective parameters. So, he is measured entirely in the match context and relative to the other performances in the same match - this is the big idea in the system.

Every match has its own fingerprint based on the context of the performances during the game. This system determines a base figure (in runs) for every match. Then, every performance in the match is measured on a scale of 0 to 5 on objective parameters, organic to the match, against this base figure. These individual match indexes taken together give a more accurate picture than an averages based system of a player's true contribution to his team, and as an individual, in a series/ tournament or a career context.

It is clearly better than batting and bowling averages as the skews that result inherently from those methods are intrinsically avoided. This system enables a more holistic measurement by taking into account the context of the performance (intangibles like state of the pitch, state of the match in which the performance happened, etc), which has always been considered beyond the realm of cricket statistics.

It is better than other rating systems because more than being a statistical system, Impact Index is a different lens with which to evaluate the game. It does not number crunch with external factors but organically from what exactly transpired in the specific match (which also results in far less unnecessary crunching). This leads to far fewer assumptions and a considerably more objective system, which also makes it far more accurate fundamentally.

It is a very versatile system that can be extended to cover almost any aspect of cricket more accurately than before. Most importantly, it is a transparent, honest system that cannot be manipulated. Conclusions cannot be just arrived at and hidden behind the opacity that all systems eventually display.

In February 2009, Hindustan Times did a front page story nationally on a new qualitative study on Indian cricket, which involved a new way to evaluate cricketers. This led to an invitation from the ICC to the architects of that study (the website HoldingWilley based in Mumbai) to do a similar study for their Centenary Conference. Out of the necessity to find a common playing field , Impact Index was conceived and created by Jaideep Varma in March-2009. The study was done by him and his team at HW and presented at Oxford in July the same year where it was very positively received. This further led to the entire Oxford paper being published in the elite cricket journal in England - The Cricket Statistician (in its 2009 winter edition, published by the Association of Cricket Historians and Statisticians).

A T20 version of Impact Index was then developed. It was used for determining the individual awards of the RadiantInfoT20 tournament of 2009, held in New York. It was also considered for use in the IPL and went through scrutiny from the official BCCI statisticians (led by the legendary Sudhir Vaidya) and was highly recommended, which led to negotiations commencing for BCCI to co-own the property. However, due to execution delays, it was not used in IPL 3 (though there was a report prepared on the whole tournament). Impact Index is now an independent entity, which is being fully automated as a system.

It is a flexible system that has the potential to be applied in a variety of areas. The evaluation of an individual cricketer with his mean Impact Index over a career (with bonus points for series/tournament-winning performances) would be far more meaningful than his batting or bowling averages or the career aggregate statistics usually around that. A variety of other factors are measured in the above process, which have so far never been factored-in for measuring a cricketer's performance. For example, a batsman's ability to play under pressure throughout his career, or a bowler's propensity to break partnerships. Team strengths are also measured in this system - which leads to a more accurate team ranking system than any other.

It seeks to complement time-honoured systems first so that its efficacy can be fully comprehended. However, in T20, it seeks to be the statistical system of choice as no other system (especially batting/bowling averages, strike rate, aggregates, etc) is anywhere near as adequate. This system's fundamental accessibility (everything reduced to a figure between 0 and 5) also makes it a promising option for the mass version of the game.

The historical findings of this study (133 years of Test cricket and 40 years of ODI cricket) will be published as books in 2011. These two volumes will bring out more than a few new aspects to evaluating cricketers and some new heroes too, whom history has perhaps not given its due yet. Broadcasters could find much to utilise (and perhaps commercialise) from Impact Index's eco system of evaluating cricket.

The system also seeks acceptance from various cricket boards as it is a better way to evaluate and select cricketers than any other system. The system is being fully automated to be zero-error and lightening-fast. It will also take every cricketer who has ever played the game, in any format, through its comprehensive database.

As an entity, Impact Index seeks to emulate Hawkeye as a standard that has added to the game, though in an entirely different sense.

It is run by a company based in Mumbai, India called Impact Index Cricket Pvt Ltd. Its majority stake-holder is the creator and founder of the system - Jaideep Varma. There is a team of technical architects, web specialists and researchers who are developing it currently. The automated system is expected to be fully functional by October 2010.

Do write to jebbit@gmail.com for any enquiries.