How technology has changed the face of cricket

For anything to survive it has to adapt to the changes with the time. Cricket is no different.  With time cricket has transformed itself significantly, and with the introduction of technology, it has fared even better. A game that was once commanded by the decisions made by umpires is now governed by superfluous use of technology.

Had it not been for technology, there would have been No commentary, no telecast, no record books maintained, no player analysis, no action replays. How would it be is it were the same today? Hard to imagine. Isn't it!

Why cricket needs technology?

Technology for better reasons has always been improvising cricket with time. It reaped better and unfeigned results.  In 90’s when I started watching cricket, it had already implicated technology available at that point of time but the advancements were restricted by the technology of its time.  When technology was first introduced in the form of action replays, umpires were able to replay the previous the ball to make a decision.Introduction of technology in the game has been successful to an extent in identifying human errors (umpiring errors).

What technology has given to cricket?

Today cricket in all its sophisticated form reaches every corner of the globe thanks to advancement in technology.  The ICC has cautiously implemented technology to bring legitimacy and enhance the pleasure of watching cricket.

Another use of technology at that point of time was the use of Third umpire to support on- field umpiring decisions. Though Third umpire only judged the run out decisions then but the slower replays made the heart thump faster and pulse rise.

Player stats, records, player analysis found its way to general masses owing to technology. Teams began forming strategies to bog down a player in form and sometimes even weaknesses of the whole team became open to the risk of exploitation. Individual players sought help from recorded video clips of their previous performances to rectify the defects in their game. Fielder positions were soon driven by technological factors. The think tanks began exploiting the strengths of their team and the weakness of their counterparts.

These technologies related factors played a massive role in absorbing the interest of spectators towards the game and gave cricket an upper hand over the other sports.

Technology and cricket in modern era:

Border- Gavaskar Trophy, Sydney test 2007-08, Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly were batting to save the test match on the final day but suffered ill fate of wrong decisions as they were shown the path to pavilion by index finger of Steve Buckner, an umpire who never fared well against India. They could do nothing but walk back to the pavilion and watch their team cripple to defeat in the final minutes of the game as Australia won.

No more! Thanks to ICC’s timely and judicious decision to apply technology, cricketers could now challenge the decision of an umpire and sweep over the myth "an umpire’s decision is the final decision".

In this 21^st century, technology and cricket go hand in hand.  The use of modern day technologies in cricket has made it one of the most popular sports around the planet. Pitch vision, the visual representation of ball pitching, was the first of modern day technologies to be introduced in cricket. Decision Review System (DRS) comprising of Hawkeye, hotspot, audio, stumps camera, wagon wheel and snicko constitute other byzantine technologies for modern day cricket.

Hawk Eye (DRS)

Hotspot

Stumps Camera

While the DRS and snicko add authenticity to the on-field umpiring decisions, the audio and stumps camera give a totally new angle of watching the game and furthermore made us versed with the conversations between players amidst field. The introduction of Zings stumps (LED stumps) has made cricket more colorful than ever.

Zings Stumps

Snikco

   

Though there are few eyebrows being raised on accuracy and credibility of DRS technology, I believe cricket can’t be more legitimate and worth watching without the use of these technologies.

The introduction of T20 format has also led to the use of captivating technologies like high resolution cameras, aerial cameras, stadium scouring skycams and the most comprehended spider cameras and ultra-slow motion cameras that has raised the pleasure of watching cricket to an infinite level.

The use of social media especially Facebook and Twitter to express their views has been a rage with the fans. This has now become a huge support, appreciation as well as criticism for the teams and players not only from countrymen but also from fans across the world - a privilege that players of previous generations didn't had.  

Cricket, with these technologies as one of its assets, became a connecting link for people around the world and sometimes the dividing line for regions and people of same country. Thankfully the latter is restricted only to the extent of the game. Today, it has become an integral part of the game, and it would be hard to imagine cricket sans technology. Wouldn't you agree?