Pythagorean Expectation for Predicting Winning Percentages in Women's Limited-Over Cricket

The Pythagorean Expectation can be used to calculate expected winning percentage in various sports. This metric was developed by baseball statistician Bill James and has since been adapted in many sports, including cricket. The present study focuses on the application of the Pythagorean Expectation to derive winning percentages in women’s limited-over cricket. The traditional method of calculating a team’s winning percentage in cricket does not account for the margin of victory, defined as the difference between runs scored and runs allowed in a match. The Pythagorean Expectation takes into account both runs allowed and runs scored to provide a better representation of a team’s strength over a period of time in terms of the offensive and defensive output of a team. Eight women’s cricket teams of the International Cricket Council (ICC) were chosen for the study for two limited-over cricket formats -Twenty20 (T20) and One Day International (ODI).