Royal Challengers Bangalore is making use of the technology to their utmost advantage. They have implemented an AI scouting system for identification of talent. Players will be requested to send in footage of themselves in action as part of the AI scouting mechanism. The system will be used to check them against the rules and find potential.
RCB Director Mike Hesson explained the use of technology and how they identify young talent using Artificial Intelligence. The AI scouting technology has been used by RCB to locate female pacers who can bowl at least 130 kph.
“We think our scouting needs to go a little bit deeper than sending regular scouts to tournaments. There’s a lot of untapped talent and potential throughout the whole country. So, we have an artificial intelligence system, where we look at at some key metrics. From a bowling perspective, it will be around pace. From a batting perspective, it will be around different positions that they get into. Once we identify talent there, we can bring them into camps or we can go and watch them at specific tournaments,” RCB Director Mike Hesson said at a pre-tournament press conference.
“We’re certainly trying to unearth that talent, not just for this year, but for beyond as well. We’re trying to look far beyond just the mainstream tournaments or first class cricket or state cricket. We’re trying to look at underage talent, talent from the extremities of the country, people that potentially aren’t in teams already. The players we’re looking at might be a year away from actually being part of the RCB. But we can identify them, we can watch them over a period of time and just see how they, how they develop. That’s certainly how we also operate and both the men’s and women’s program,” he added.
Ben Sawyer, the coach of RCB Women’s team said that the women’s IPL is going to take women’s cricket to a next level.
“In terms of the attention and the publicity around it, it’s a lot bigger than I’ve experienced. RCB themselves and the setup and everything that they’ve given the players is absolutely next level. Like they’ve left no stone unturned. And I know that as a coach, and as players, they’re extremely appreciative of that. It (WPL) will take Indian cricket to an extremely high level,” said Sawyer.
Hesson said, “We know it’s about the real challenges that women face in sport in India and throughout the world. So, a really exciting addition to the support staff and I’m sure all the girls are delighted to work with her. I think it’s exciting. In women’s sport, she has been a huge icon and it’s actually very good to be from outside of the game, because you’re talking more about the emotions and the pressures and moving towards challenges, rather than talking technique or about cricket… we’ve got experts for that. We’ve got plenty of experts for that.”
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