Cricket has always been in great sync with the latest technology that science has to offer. Be it the referral system, or the hawk-eye or Snickometer, cricket uses the best in the business so that fans get the best possible experience. The quality of the game tends to improve and mistakes made by umpires seems to be minimized.
In recent times, technology can only get better and one such astonishing piece of tech that is being flaunted by the cricketing community is the latest Intel chips that batsmen get to place in their bat handles. Only a few batsmen from all 8 of the playing team will have the chip installed at the base of their handle and it will be used to analyze their game.
Three Indian batsmen have been selected to place this chip on their bats and they are Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and Ravichandran Ashwin. Intel was lined in as a partner for ICC in an effort to make the game more technologically advanced.
The press statement from the ICC said, “The new bat sensor powered by the Intel Curie technology that can be mounted on any cricket bat to generate data for every stroke that the batsman plays. With this technology, parameters like back-lift, bat speed, and follow-through can be tracked for every cricket stroke. Several batsmen will use these bad sensors in the games at the 2017 Champions Trophy, enabling new insights on stroke play and rich story-telling in the broadcast. Analytics from the sensor will be available for fans to analyze.”
The company said that coaches and cricketers could analyze the data post their matches or practice sessions and make improvements to their techniques to improve their game.
The ICC CEO, David Richardson also shared his thoughts about the project, he said that it is an exciting announcement for the ICC as they continue to focus on innovation and technology, in order to improve both the game and the experience of the audiences. The changes they’re working with Intel on for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 are like nothing we’ve seen in the sport before and David is delighted to embrace them to the ICC family.
However, talking about the new technology, Intel Sports Group’s GM, James Carwana said, “As the official Innovation Partner of the ICC Champions Trophy, we are excited to integrate Intel technology in this tournament. We will be deploying a range of technology at the event as part of our ongoing effort to bring a new level of data analytics to sports and to revolutionize how athletes train, coaches teach, scouts evaluate talent, and fans enjoy sports.”
