​Tech Take-Off @ Champion's Trophy

Smart bats, drone report for pitch analysis to VR experience, this Champions Trophy witnessed a plethora of on-field tech innovations.

- Rajneesh De

Well, the Champions Trophy is over and the nation is still in mourning over the thrashing at the hands of Pakistan in the final. In case the shock hangover is over for many of you, it’s time to look back at some new tech advances introduced on and off the cricket field (to enhance TV viewing) during this Champions Trophy.

The biggest on-field innovation came in the form of a chip installed on the bat handle of some batsmen playing in the Champions trophy. This enabled the players to glean information details about their bat angles and back lifts. With this technology, parameters like back-lift, bat speed and follow-through can be tracked for every cricket stroke.

Chip on the Bat 

This new bat sensor powered by the Intel Curie technology can be mounted on any cricket bat to generate data for every stroke that the batsman plays. Several batsmen including the likes of Rohit Sharma, Ben Stokes and the likes used these bat sensors in the matches at the 2017 Champions Trophy, enabling new insights on stroke play and rich storytelling in broadcast.

The bat sensor uses a coin-sized module, which is a chip, and it is built on the Intel Curie platform. It is about the size of a coin, and can be attached to any bat in the market today. Attaching the sensor is really simple. Just roll the grip of bat down a bit and put the bottle cap sized sensor on the bat’s handle, roll back the grip and you’re done. The fact that the sensor weighs less than an ounce and stays at the bat’s handle means it doesn’t affect the player’s batting in any way.