Making Sense Of ‘Bat Sense'

The latest technological tool to enter cricket could provide ANSWERS PERTAINING TO TECHNIQUE to a legion of cricketers, writes N. SUDARSHAN.

- N. Sudarshan

In recent times, runs for Mahendra Singh Dhoni haven’t come at a rate neither he nor the watching public will be satisfied with. During the Champions Trophy, The Indian Express reported that Dhoni has been wanting to set it right ever since the Indian Premier League started in April. The problem was both with his stance and bat swing it was said.

“I’VE BEEN WORKING ON IT for a while,” he was quoted as saying. “I’m basically trying to work on getting myself more upright in my stance. I noticed that the head is bending over a little and is not in line with the front toe.”

Dhoni is most definitely not using ‘Bat Sense’, but the latest technological tool to enter cricket may well be able to provide such answers for legions of cricketers. The bat sensor, developed by Specular, a company based in Bengaluru, in collaboration with Intel, was tried at the Champions Trophy with players such as David Warner, Travis Head, Azhar Ali and Tamim Iqbal allowing the 25 grma heavy chip to be mounted on top of their cricket bat. The result was a data set which indicated the bat speed, follow-through angle and back-lift angle among others.

“Why are these things a mystery?” asks Atul Srivastava, Founder & Managing Director of Specular, and the brain behind the product. “Because we had no way of knowing these things.With this device we will now know. For a batsman, the bat is a weapon. The better he uses it, the better for him. With this a lot of techniques will get unlocked with respect to the bat.”