IPL Crunch '26: what a public data problem surfaces that a job post doesn't
Mu Sigma didn't write a job description. They posted five seasons of IPL data and three real questions — here's who showed up, and how many of them actually finished.
Wooble Team
Platform team
Mu Sigma didn't post a job description asking for "strong analytical skills." They posted five seasons of raw IPL ball-by-ball data and three real questions, and let the applicant pool answer with code, not adjectives.
The brief
Every builder worked from the same public dataset — IPL results, ball by ball, free, no signup — and had to answer:
- Do teams that win the toss actually win more matches?
- Which phase — powerplay, middle overs, or death overs — is most linked to winning?
- Who are the top 5 batters and top 5 bowlers across all five seasons?
Shipped as: two charts (toss win-rate, phase-by-phase scoring), a top-5 batter/bowler table, and one sentence naming whatever in the data genuinely surprised them — uploaded straight to a Wooble portfolio as verifiable proof of work, for a Data Analyst role, over a 21-day window with a ₹5,000 prize for the top submission.
The numbers
Every figure below is pulled directly from Wooble's platform records for this challenge.
51% of everyone who registered went on to actually submit finished analysis — not just sign up. That's a high finish rate for an open, unpaid, unscreened challenge.
Under 2% — the largest single college in the field still accounted for less than 2% of entrants. This pulled from a wide base, not one campus's placement pipeline.
~11% of builders came in from an IIT or NIT campus, unprompted — no targeted outreach, no campus partnership, just a public link.
The scoreboard
Every finisher earned a verifiable Wooble certificate. Three topped the board, decided on data quality and clarity of the write-up. Scores and full submissions are public.
| Rank | Builder | Background |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Suhaan Aneja | Data Analytics · Kharagpur, West Bengal |
| 2nd | Preetansh Devpura | Product Management / Tech Consulting |
| 3rd | Meetpuri Goswami | Ahmedabad, Gujarat |
What this proves — and what it doesn't
A single, specific problem statement — no job description, no keyword-matched resume screen — pulled a genuinely wide, largely self-finishing cross-section of India's early-career analytics talent, most of it verifiable end to end.
What this isn't: a hiring-funnel result. Mu Sigma's own conversion from this pool into interviews or offers isn't part of this record. The scoreboard above is what's confirmed — a read on proof-of-work reach, not a claim about hires made.
Hiring on proof of work