I don't exactly recall who called whom but it was February 09, 2015 when first discussion for KFL WC 2015 took place between Samanasamitee members.
I had planned for limited version of KFL for World Cup...... only for Knockout stages. During KFL Down Under, it was clear that biggest hurdle in managing KFL was substitute requests. Members showed inclination to changing players very frequently. Therefore, there was an idea of putting price on substitute.
Shirya agreed to idea of putting KFL score as price for substitute request. First set of rules with reward point for bowlers were agreed upon. We decided to remove cap on number of substitute requests and let members decide upon it based on their budget.
Shirya wanted this version of KFL to be bigger that KFL Down Under since it was once in a four year tournament. Paid substitute was likely to limit substitute requests. Still question remained.... How to manage flow of substitute requests? Then there came an idea about 'Substitute Window'.
So it was 'Substitute window' which made job much more simpler for me. I had to manage substitute requests only for three days. And suddenly KFL WC 2015 became viable proposition for group matches.
Excel sheets with primary rules were made ready during tri-series itself. Formulae were checked & verified.
After first substitute window, it was realised that players are likely to become costly to purchase after group stages. There could have been tendancy to keep player list unchanged if there is no scope for recovery of purchase price in knockout stages. Also, bowlers were getting advantage over batsman.
During one of the group chat Salya commented something about negative scoring. It was a thought to be a good idea, to introduce penalty for poor performing players.... This was anticipated to make toppers in KFL charts vulnerable to slow scoring and poor economy rate. In addition, to boost substitute requests, scoring rate was decided to be doubled for Semifinals.
KCC initiated contests for group members from Loksabha elections. It was eventual to introduce same for WC2015. Shirya proposed it to be clubbed with KFL scoring. But it was agreed upon to move away from traditional fixed scoring structure for predict and score. Thus came pooling of points.
I must accept, predict and Score was test for KFL WC2015 contest's interest. It was going to test how much we were able to keep interests of members alive after 42 matches. We were surprised to get 19 predictions out of 20 members who have participated in KFL. It was phenomenal.
It became an additional responsibility to keep it interesting till end of finals. members had selected players from five to six teams while going into semifinals. There was a likelihood of members going into finals with only five to six players. Paid substitute was hurdle as there was no probability of return of purchase price. Double scoring rate was hardly going to help.
After India's semifinal loss, Shirya came up with idea of one free substitute. we ended up modifying scheme with buy one get one free. Scoring rate were quadrupled.
This seems to have helped keeping interest in KFL alive even after WC is over.
In the end, I will sum it up with a theory -
It is practical to run on a turf....it gets difficult on sand and becomes impossible on water. It is feedback we get from surface that pushes us ahead. And it is poor in sand and non existent over water.
So it is response from group members that has made this version of KFL a success. Had it been cold, I doubt if we could have made it beyond group stages.
Thank you all members for making this version a great success. This world cup will long be cherished.
All the best,
Abhijit & Shrinivas
