Cricket is a celebrated sport across the world. It is a religion for countries like India especially with the Indian Premier League where fans share competitive enthusiasm. Nowadays, the experience of traditional cricket is slowly evolving with technology.
The first such milestone was set by the renowned bowler, Anil Kumble released a software similar to scoring sheet utilizing Data Analytics in 1996. Many such technological evasion is seen since then like Drone cameras, Snickometer, Hawk-eye, and Duckworth-Lewis rule.
Forecasting in Cricket
The rise of Superstars in 2018 developed by IIT Madras and Gyan Data and launched by ESPNcricinfo was a keystone in predicting an event in cricket. Superstars utilize ESPNcricinfo’s rich ball-by-ball database and the complex algorithms to combine Luck Index, Forecaster, and Smart stats and provide accurately predict the events of the cricket game.
Even the recruitment process, it utilizes Artificial intelligence and Machine learning to determine the potential capabilities of the player. The database is kept transparent and open to be accessed by anyone, rejects favoritism postulation during the selection process of big events like IPL and T20.
Speculur BatSense
Intel has attached a sensor of Internet-of-Things on bats to gathers data by using an ML algorithm with each stroke. These IoT-enabled sensors aid in smart wearables Speculur named Speculur Batsense. The data gathered is stored in a cloud and made available for prediction tables and graphs during Live Match broadcasts. These devices certainly help in broadening the horizon of cricket from coaches to self-taught cricketers.
Sticker Sensor
IoT enabled sticker sensor is placed in the back blade of the bat, underneath a regular sponsorship sticker. The sensors can gather details of bat speed, bat rotation due to the impact of the ball, power, and quality of the shot. It all provides input to the Power Spek Score. The sensor uses cloud analytics. The analysis is done using the Azure AI model to provide constant feedback to the players using Microsoft edge.
The daunting task of providing these data to broadcasters is done by using an edge device named as Stump Box buried behind the Wickets. The data collected by the sticker sensor is transferred to Azure, then shot characteristics are sent to broadcasters in real-time.
The integration of cricket with technology has reduced a lot of grey zones of cricket. With the continuous use of AI in making faster predictions, we might not need umpire at all in the future.
