In the fourth one-day game between West Indies and India, Andre Russell achieved the amazing feat of accumulating over 1 win probability added in a single one-day game. While achieving a win probability added of more than 1 is definitely possible – at least in theory, it has never been done by a player for any of the games we have started tracking the win probability graph. So Russell’s feat in that respect is indeed noteworthy.
On the surface, Russell’s performance in the game looks anything but exceptional. He scored a quick-fire 25 near the end of the first innings (which gave him 0.329 WPA), and then took 3 wickets for just 16 runs in 7 overs (which resulted in 0.825 WPA), giving him a total WPA of 1.154. He was neither the top scorer in the first innings, nor the highest wicket taker in the second innings. And he did not win the man of the match either, which was awarded to Anthony Martin.
In the context of the game (and we know that WPA is all about context), however, Russell’s performance was indeed noteworthy. His bowling WPA once again indicates that choking runs is as important as taking wickets, and the “run prevention” aspect of bowling is usually heavily underestimated in limited over cricket. With his good performance in the third and the fourth one-day game, Russell has certainly elevated himself to the top among the candidates in the running for the man of the series. And West Indies seem to have unearthed another nice all rounder for their team, which can only help them in the long run.