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| The
Unexpected Cricket Team Member |
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| Cricket is serious
business in India, and cricket stars, as we
know, are next only to God. But what we are
perhaps not aware of is that a lot goes into
retaining the stars in the best form. There
is of course the coach and the physio-therapist
and the full team of professionals of
varying expertise who support the players.
What we are talking of today is an unlikely
entrant
into this select group–a media centre
PC. |
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 The
coach has a key role to play in keeping our
cricketing stars in the right form. Tradition-ally,
coaching is by sight. That is, the coach closely
watches the player in action on the nets,
identifies the problem areas and advises the
player to correct the issues that are ob-served.
There are two problems with this approach.
First, the coach may miss problems at the
vary start of the player's development, because
even the keenest of eyesight might not be
able to catch minor variations in technique.
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| The other one
is even more difficult. Remember that we are
dealing with some of the best players in the
world! Because star cricket players sometimes
become over-confident, even the best coaches
may have a mighty difficult time convincing
these superstar players that something is
wrong with their technique or playing style.
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 This
is where video-aided coaching made its entrance.
The player is videotaped in action. The video
is then edited, analyzed, and played back
to the player to reveal to him faults or concerns,
if any, with his technique. The only problem
is that there is a time gap of a couple of
hours between the practice session and when
the video is made available for review. By
now, the player is in a different frame of
mind, and possibly winding down after a hard
day at the nets—and often not in a frame
of mind to sit down with the coach to view
the video and discuss technique. |
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| The answer to
this problem is instantaneous video editing
and playback on a large screen. But even so,
video editing has always been a time-consuming
and skilled job that requires costly and specialized
equipment. But no longer! The media centre
PC is well equipped to do this job, almost
in real time. What does it look like? |
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| It is time to
introduce Ramki. Fans of the game will recognize
the name. Ramki, or Subramanian Ramakrishnan
to give his full name, is team India’s
Computer Analyst. He was also a state level
player in his younger days, and currently
works with a firm called Meru Sports Technology
Services. |
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| Ramki added
almost-real-time video analysis to India’s
cricket team’s repertoire. Here is how
he did it: Each player practices in fifteen-minute
session at the net. |
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| Then, a video
of the practice session is taken—and the
video analysis is ready to run in seven
minutes flat. So, even before the sweat on
the player's brow has dried, the player and
the coach can sit down together to analyze
the player’s action. The practice is repeated after some time and the player tries
to incorporate the coach’s suggestions
until it becomes second nature to him. |
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 And
here is where the media centre PC scores big
points over other solutions. The media centre
can be operated with a remote control, instead
of from the keyboard. That means the coach
need not be technology-savvy, or hunched over
a keyboard during practices. The coach and
the player can sit back, relax, and use the
remote control to direct the video–a
boon indeed in a hot outdoors situation!
Training is not the only situation where the
media centre PC comes in handy for sports
team India. |
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| For example,
when a player’s action is questioned,
the team's management may use the media centre
PC replays extensively to arrive at accurate
and, therefore, less controversial and more
fair determinations. |
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| The team also
may extensively replay the op-position’s
players, to understand the opposing team's
game and to devise ways of countering their
strengths and exploiting their weak-nesses. |
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| Is that all?
What's next? Lots, in fact. Ramki is busy
developing software that can break up the
players’ action for each delivery or
shot. This will enable teams to save each
individual video segment separately, making
it easy to search and view videos by the file
name. With that capability in place, retrieving
old videos and comparing them side-by-side
with newer ones to understand changes in the
players’ action will become as easy
as slicing butter. And, don’t forget
that playing and replaying the media centre
PC is already as easy as using a television
remote control. |
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For more information
about Meru Sports Technology Services
call +91-44-28205894 to 96 or email ramky@meru.co.in |
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Ramki
added almost real time video analysis to India’s
cricket team’s repertoire…and
the video analysis for each player can be
completed in seven minutes flat!
