The IPL has always brought forth innovation, whether it’s on or off the field.
A new video montage featuring the IPL cricketers playing with the new robodog is doing the rounds online, especially in social media circles. Among the many innovative developments that the IPL has introduced this year, this one has particularly caught the attention of many.
Still, a few other measures taken by the IPL and the IPL franchises are paving way for a future where tech could play a larger role in disrupting the way the game we all know is played and watched all over the world.
And that’s what we’ll be looking at in this article.
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Cricket Analytics and Artificial Intelligence for Informed Decision Making
Several IPL franchises, such as the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, have invested heavily in using analytics to analyse data and make data-backed decisions. The club’s scouting team leverages artificial intelligence for unearthing raw talent and showcasing them on the biggest stage.
By natural abilities, we mean a spinner’s capability to impart more revolutions into the ball and a fast bowler’s ability to generate an extra yard of pace. They use data to identify players with special attributes, provide them with some conditioning, and prepare them for the big stage, provided they possess the ability to handle pressure and showcase their talent at the highest level of competitive franchise cricket.
Adopting a data-centric approach to help players overcome their weaknesses and refine their skills has been a practice for some time, but only certain clubs have demonstrated great tact and prudence in using data effectively for informed decision-making around key things that give franchises an edge over their competitors.
Whether it involves scouting for new talent, coming up with a clear strategy for player selections during the auction, or choosing the right combination of players- including the impactful substitutes- that can provide their team the best chance to maximise home advantage and pressure the visiting team, franchises are fully committed to leveraging advanced cricket analytics. This approach appears to be yielding positive results for several of them currently.
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Champak, the RoboDog
Managed to watch a few hours of IPL this season? Then you would have caught a glimpse of the new dog/robot- or rather, robodog- around the block that the IPL broadcast team has unveiled this season. Fondly referred to as Champak, this robot dog is a sophisticated tech device.
Following the buggy cam, which dispatches breathtaking visuals from the edge of the boundary into the broadcast room, the latest member of the IPL broadcasting team presents a fresh dog’s eye view of the proceedings on the field. But it can do a lot of interesting things too.
Equipped with cameras that capture on-field images, the robodog would accompany the two captains as they head to the middle before the start of play, sneak into the players’ warm-up routine, carry out its own working regimen, and perform a set of activities following voice commands, such as drawing a heart shape among other things.
It won’t be long before this tech is enhanced with capabilities that let the device waltz into the middle during the drinks break and gauge player health data by communicating with the sensors on the different health trackers players are wearing these days.
Better On-Field Calls by Umpires
A league watched by hordes of people all over the globe cannot risk its reputation being affected by substandard umpiring.
And that’s precisely why a slew of new technology emerged in the last decade to help keep umpiring mistakes to a minimum. It was amazing to see the umpires use technology like the Decision Review System (DRS), Ball Tracking, Snickometer, Ultra Edge, and Smart Bails, which light up only when they’ve been fully dislodged.
But it didn’t eliminate the bad calls and we did see a few random incidents involving contentious calls of no ball or wide almost every season. These infamous on-field umpiring calls not only changed the course of games but also sparked fresh debates about using technology to eliminate such umpiring howlers. It seems like these calls have been addressed.
Starting this season, umpires will use the Smart Replay System, powered by Hawk Eye technology, to access real-time images for fast and accurate analysis of wide and no-ball decisions when they are sent up for review. This hopefully paves the way for a future where technology assists umpires in minimising errors that could potentially have match-changing consequences.
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