INDIA and the world have seen what appears to be a spontaneous outpouring of emotion over the retirement of arguably one of the greatest cricketers in the universe.There’s no doubt how passionately many people in India feel about the retirement of cricket legend, Sachin Tendulkar. Cast a quick eye over some of the millions of tweets, and the strength of feeling is abundantly clear.

“God of Cricket retires,” writes one. “You might have retired from cricket, but you will never retire from our hearts! Thank-You Sachin,” tweets another. When Tendulkar himself responded via his Twitter account to thank his fans for their support, his message was tweeted 17,000 times.
Big businesses or organisations often seize the opportunity to hop on and ride the wave when there are signs of a simmering trend. In this case, it was actively promoted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) — which is running a live count of the tweets — and by Twitter India, via its blog.
Cricket Technology is moving at a staggering pace, and as we battle to keep up with the advances in everyday technology with the latest phones, computers and TVs, we need ask ourselves: What sense can we make of cricket technology, and how can it help the player and coach?
My thoughts on what the goal of cricket technology should be for the player and the coach, are that technology in all its forms should inform and support the process of playing better cricket.Technology should be a servant of the game.
The use of technology by coaches should be secondary to the player – coach relationship. Coaches, beware of becoming the techno-wiz when you have no soft skills like patience and empathy!
Over the years, cricket has incorporated into the game a few of the latest technological advances available. There have been some rejections of technology, such as the use of aluminium cricket bats, but, generally, the ICC has been rightly cautious about making changes to the game that will impact the players and spectators.
In international cricket, the third umpire has been used to supplement the role of the two umpires on the ground. The third umpire is equally qualified, and sits off the ground, with access to TV replays of certain situations (such as disputed catches and boundaries) to advise the central umpires.
The umpires out on the field are in communication, via wireless technology, with the other umpire. The third umpire is also asked to adjudicate on run-out decisions, for which he uses video replay, and makes a decision without consulting with the two central umpires.
Cricket Referrals (DRS)
Cricket has joined some other world sports, and has included an umpire referral system in some games. It was first tried in 2008 (in a Test Series between Sri Lanka and India).
Players are allowed to challenge decisions made by the on-field umpires, and have them referred to the TV official. For each innings of the Test, each team can challenge any decision, though they will be limited to three unsuccessful challenges per innings. Only the batsman on the receiving end of the umpire’s original decision or the captain of the fielding side can appeal by making a “T” sign with both forearms at shoulder height. The third umpire uses the technology of the hot spot and slow motion replays at different angles to gain information and make decisions.
It all sounds great for the players and viewers at home, but the pressure is on the umpires. In reality, the process often takes too long and can distract from the game. When there are challenges left near the end of an innings, players tend to make frivolous challenges on the off-chance of getting a decision overturned. So there are still problems that need to be ironed out, but the referral system is a great step forward for cricket.

TV Technology
Hawkeye – A computer system first used in 2001 for showing the path of a cricket ball. It is a commonly used and indispensable tool for cricket commentators around the world to confirm the umpire’s decisions. Why not let the umpires see it too?

Snick-o-Meter – a very sensitive microphone located in one of the stumps, which can pick up the sound when the ball nicks the bat. This technology is only used to give television audiences more information and to show if the ball did or did not actually hit the bat. Unfortunately the umpires do not get the benefit of seeing ‘snicko’. Read more.
Ball Spin RPM – Starting during the TV coverage by Sky sports for the 2013 Ashes series, they were able to show a RPM (revolutions per minute) counter, showing how fast the ball was spinning after release. It is not clear how this is measured, though it would need a high speed camera focussed on the ball, possibly using the same images that are captured for the Hawkeye system.
Hot Spot – the hot spot technology is usually used to review whether the bat has hit the ball, particularly when there is a small nick. If there is contact, the small amount of heat generated is indicated by a change to that area of the bat. Hot Spot uses two infra-red cameras positioned at either end of the ground. These cameras sense and measure heat from friction generated by a collision, such as ball on pad, ball on bat, ball on ground or ball on glove. Using a subtraction technique, a series of black-and-white negative frames is generated into a computer, precisely localizing the ball’s point of contact.
No Balls at the crease – Give the umpires some feedback about whether a front foot no ball has been made. It would be simple to include some technology which gives the umpire a beeping sound if the bowler crosses the popping crease, like in tennis for let or fault calls. This will mean that the umpire does not need to be distracted and looking down as the bowler delivers the ball, and can focus on what the batsman and fielders are doing.
So friends, there you have it! But, let’s hope it stays that way with the players on the fields and not playing cricket “virtually” in a couple of decades to come.