Rohit, Rahane to use revolutionary ‘smart-bats’ in Champions Trophy

With the International Cricket Council (ICC) naming Intel as its Innovation Partner for the upcoming Champions Trophy, starting from June 1 in England, the tournament is being considered as the first ever “Smart Cricket Tournament” with the introduction of chip-installed bats. According to Xtratime, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane will be among the batsmen who will be the first to try this innovation.

The International Cricket Council has always been very keen on adding technological advancements to the game and continuing the trend of adding something new to every major tournament, the inclusion of this feature is expected to transform the game significantly. As a part of its continuous drive to use the next wave of powerful technologies, Intel will transform the cricket experience for fans, and help coaches and players improve performance. Three players from each of the eight teams will play with these specialised bats.

“This bat will now track everything done with the bat. For example, if I ask you what you’ve done in the net session today, you don’t really know. Now, this will show you that you’ve played a hundred balls, how many you played on the off-side and how many on the on-side, how many you left, the maximum speed which you attained. For every shot that you play, there will be parameters like your bat-angle, your played-angle, your follow through, your angle at impact, your speed at impact. There will be so many things to analyse for the coaches,” Atul Srivastava explained. 

The tournament is set to witness revolutionary developments in terms of technology also because it will be the first time that the Spidercam along with drone cameras will be used in the tournament. There will also be hawk-eye cameras installed at all three venues, the Oval, the Edgbaston, and the Sophia Gardens.