Synthetic strategising
There are already a host of technological aids for umpires and players in cricket and now comes the latest - an analytics program - that gives a team an insight into which way the match is going, the position of the game and, importantly, what
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
There are already a host of technological aids for umpires and players in cricket and now comes the latest - an analytics program - that gives a team an insight into which way the match is going, the position of the game and, importantly, what strategies to be employed to win. Hindustan Times' Kadambari Murali talks to the head of the company that developed 'Over the Rope' and asks if such a program won't go on to kill creativity.
This means the coach/dugout will tell the batsman he has to get 40 runs in the next three overs. His job is just to get those runs in that time. The bowler’s would be to prevent that, knowing fully well what the batsman has to get and execute his plan. So here’s the question that many will pose: Would this not kill the creativity and the natural instinct of a batsman/bowler and make him more robotic? Ramky believes that isn’t the point. “We’re not trying to kill their creativity but trying to help them win. We’re telling the player: ‘be creative in achieving your goals’. The route is up to him, how to get those 40 runs, not whether 40 or 60 is enough. Dynamic strategising is involved and the program does that based on proven fact and data.”
Nishi Narayanan is a staff writer at ESPNcricinfo