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IPL TEAMS STRIKE GOLD WITH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Cricket is a very fast-paced, high energy sport but its also big business. Professional teams that
belong to the Indian Premiere League pay each of their players, the estimated value that can
range from IN !" lakh #IN ! million$ to IN ! crore #IN ! million$ per year depending on his
e%perience and stature. &or that amount of money, member teams e%pect a great deal and are
constantly on the 'atch for 'ays of improving their performance. (uring a )*-game season,
every nuance a coach can pick up about a 'eakness in an opponents offence or the shots of
one of his o'n players 'ill translate into more runs on the scoreboard, more 'ins, and ultimately
more money for the team.
+raditional cricket game statistics failed to capture all of the details associated 'ith every play
and 'as not easily related to videotapes of games. ,s a result, decision about changes in tactics
or ho' to take advantage of opponents 'eaknesses 'ere based primarily on hunches and gut
instincts. Coaches could not ans'er -uestions such as ./hich types of plays are hurting us01
No' professional cricket coaches are taking their cues from other buisenesses and learning ho'
to make decisions based on hard data. +he soft'are available 'ith the Indian +eam 'as very
generic and did not produce any analytical information. &or the same reason 2ohn /right 'anted
to have -uite a fe' reports to help him make decisions based on statistical data.
, company called 3ports 4echanics has found a 'ay to collect and organi5e fine-grained
statistical data and relate the data to associated video clips. 3ports 4echanics employs to 6ust )
people to match up video of each play 'ith statistical information about every bo'l bo'led 'ithin
the match. &or e%ample, 'ho bo'led it, 'ho is the batsman, 'ho is the non-striker, 'here did the
ball pitch, 'hat did the ball do, 'here the ball 'as hit, ho' many runs 'ere scored off it, 'ho
fielded it, ho' did he field it, 'hich end did he thro' , 'hat 'as the outcome of the play, etc.
7nce the tagging is done 'hen the -uery is done according to the tag, then the relevant video
plays. 8ueries can be done by multiple layers of filters by bo'ler, by batsman, by type of ball,
etc.
9ach game is dissected and tagged, play by play, using hundreds of descriptive categories and
these data are linked to high-resolution video.

Coaches then use an inde% to locate the e%act video clip in 'hich they are interested and access
a video at a protected /eb site. /ithin seconds they are able to 'atch streaming video on the
protected site or they are able to do'nload it to laptops, i-pods, play stations, etc.
&or e%ample, if the :olkata :nightriders have 6ust lost to the a6asthan oyals and gave up too
many runs, :nightriders coach can use 3ports 4echanics service to see video clips of every
a6asthan oyals batting performance in the game. ;e can also vie' every :olkata :nightriders
transitional situation for the entire season to see ho' that game compared 'ith others. ,ccording
to :olkata :nightriders o'ner 3hahrukh :han, .the system allo's us to look at every play, in
every 'ay, and tie it back to stats. 3o 'e can 'atch ho' 'e played every ball, track our success
rate, and see hoe other teams are doing it.1
+he service helps coaches analy5e the strengths and 'eaknesses of individual players. &or
e%ample, 3ports 4echanics system has recorded every offensive step of the :olkata
:nightriders< 3hoaib ,khtar since he 6oined IPL. +he system can sho' ho' successfully he is
bo'ling in home or a'ay games, 'ith the ability to break games and player performance into
increasingly finer-grained categories. If a user clicks on any statistic, that person 'ill found from
any of the games of any season of IPL that sho' 3hoaibs particular bo'ling move.
4r. 3 amakrishnan, the Indian Cricket +eam ,nalyst and the founder of 3ports 4echanics has
since !""= helped over ),""" cricketers and provided analysis and soft'are to ICC and !>
countries. ,bout ? teams in IPL< all e%cept oyal Challengers have already signed up for 3ports
4echanics service, and are using them to scout for promising national and international players.
,lthough nothing 'ill ever replace the need to scout players in person, the service has reduced
the IPL teams skyrocketing costs.
+he information system is based on a service provided by 3ports 4echanics staff members
break do'n each game into a series of plays and then categori5e each play by players, type of
play, and the outcome. +hese data are tagged to the videos they describe to make the videos
easy to search. IPL coaches and management can analy5e the data to see 'hich offensive and
defensive moves are the most effective for each team player. +eam members can use laptops,
play stations, i-pods, etc to do'nload the videos to help them prepare for games. +his innovative
solution makes it possible for basketball management to use ob6ective statistical data about
players, plays and outcomes to improve their decision making about 'hat players should or
shouldnt do to most effectively counter their opponents.
+he players of Indian Cricket +eam thank a ton to analyst amki #4r. amakrishnan$. 3achin
+endulkar and @irender 3eh'ag have heaped praise on Indian Cricket +eam analyst 3
amakrishnan, saying that his analytical soft'ares have helped rectify technical fla's and fine-
tune their game. 3eh'ag paid the ultimate tribute to amakrishnan, better kno'n as amki,
saying that his triple hundred at 4ultan in !""A came immediately after the latter helped spot a
chink in his amour. 3eh'ag said at the launch of amakrishnans B3ports 4echanics, .amki
helps players by e%plaining the mistakes for each individual through his soft'are. In Indias tour
to Pakistan, I 'as not able to get to my rhythm< I could get about !" runs in four days matches. I
spent about an hour before the test series 'ith amki in vie'ing the clippings. amki said that
my feet 'ere too 'ide and head 'as falling #not still$. I made amends to these and scored =""
plus runs in the +est.1 +endulkar said, .amki has really helped us for a long, long timeC /e
discuss for long hours after vie'ing clippings on computer. I have learnt a lot on the game 'ith
innovations.1
.Computer +echnology has developed so much. I hope amki and others do not develop the
soft'are that goes and scores runs,1 +endulkar said in a lighter vein, after captain ahul (ravid
formally launched the company. +endulkar admitted that he is not fan of computers but a lover of
music. .1I am not a fan of computers and my love for music is kno'n. I get music #;indi and
9nglish songs$ recorded on amkis i-pod1, he said. (ravid said that amakrishnan and Indian
Cricket +eam has had a long 6ourney together. /hen (ravid reffered amki as B2ohn Left, the
invitees, including former cricketers like : 3hrikanth and / @ aman besides others, burst into
laughter. .I used to play in +amil Nadu league and my colleagues in the team used to refer amki
as 2ohn Left,1 the skipper said. (ravid e%plained that amki al'ays use to sit left of 2ohn /right,
the former Indian Coach. +erming amakrishanan as an integral part of the team, (ravid said,
.his contribution al'ays goes unnoticed but all the team members and support staff value his
contribution incomparable.1 Coach Dreg Chappelalso commented amkis 'ork. Coach Dreg
Chappell said, .;e is part of 'hat I and the teams support staff do and it helps many 'ays in the
performance of the team.1 esponding to the felicitations, amakrishnan said, .I 'ant the 3ports
4echanics to become the EP7 for all sports federations globally and help India 'il gold medals
in 7lympics Dames.1
FFFFFFFFFFFF
THE TATA NANO MAKES HISTORY USING DIGITAL MANUFACTURING
7n 2anuary >", !""G, Indias +ata 4otors unveiled its Nano car. It 'as a historic moment,
because the Nano 'as the cheapest auto ever made at that time, 'ith a price tag around
H3I!)"". +he Nano 6oined &ords 4odel + as a car 'ithin the reach of millions of people 'ho
previously could not afford one.
+ata 4otors started its Nano pro6ect in !""=, 'hen a team 'as charged 'ith creating a car that
'ould cost no more than about H3I!)"" 'ithout compromising on safety, aesthetics, or value to
the customer. It 'as a ;erculean task. +ata met the challenge by using digital manufacturing
systems to dramatically shorten the time re-uired to design the ne' product and bring it to
market. +he ability to develop and produce ne' products 'ith many different variations 'ithin a
short time span is a key competitive advantage in the automotive industry.
Hntil a fe' years ago, it 'ould have been impossible to design and produce the Nano at this
price. +ata 4otors had outdated manufacturing processes. 4anual effort 'as re-uired to create
and maintain processes, plants, and product design, resulting in longer lead times to choose the
appropriate tools for an operation. +he company had to create programs manually for assembly
line robots, a process that 'as error-prone and time-consuming. 3uch delays have a number of
negative conse-uencesJ (ata used to plan a vehicle became useless over time, and the
company 'as unable to easily change its product mi%, roll out a ne' product on an e%isting
production line, or schedule the assembly of t'o different products on the same line.
,ll that changed in 2uly !"") 'hen +ata 4otors s'itched to digital manufacturing using (assualt
3ystems (igital 9nterprise Lean 4anufacturing Interactive ,pplication #(9L4I,$. (igital
manufacturing automates processes in product design and production engineering planning,
enabling +ata to plan manufacturing processes, design plant layouts, and then simulate the
repercussions of those plans, including the impact of manufacturing techni-ues and changes of
products on e%isting production lines. It provides data to +atas 3,P enterprise resource planning
system, 'hich costs out a product, an assembly or a sub-assembly. (igital manufacturing also
simulates the movements of people 'orking on the shop floor so that the planners can design
more efficient 'ork processes. Companies using digital manufacturing can model products and
operations and make changes to them on computer. +his cuts do'n on the use of e%pensive
physical prototypes, 'hich must be rebuilt each time a design changes.
,ccording to +.N. Hmamahesh'aran, 'ho headed +ata 4otors digital manufacturing program,
./e cant imagine 'hat 'ould take place at a ne' plant if did not have (4 tool.
+'o years before the first stone of a plant laid, 'e already start 'orking on it. /e dont even
kno' 'here the site 'ill be, but 'e kno' 'hat it 'ill take to make ?)" cars a day.1
,s a result of adopting digital manufacturing, +ata motors have reduced time-to market for ne'
passenger cars by at least si% months. +he company can no' rapidly identify areas of .'ork
overload1 and constraints 'hile -uickly adapting assembly lines to accommodate multiple
automobile variations. +he ability to simulate facilities and processes has reduced the cost of
physical re'ork. 4anufacturing and facilities planning no' take =" percent less time, 'ith a !"
percent reduction in the cost of the manufacturing planning process end-to-end has been
reduced by over )" percent.
+he challenges facing IPL teams sho' 'hy information systems are so essential today. Like
other businesses, professional cricket faces pressure from high costs, especially for team
member salaries and travel to search for ne' talent. +eams are trying to increase revenue by
improving employee performance, especially the performance of cricket team members.
4anagement 'as unable to take good decisions about ho' to improve the performance of teams
and of individual players because it lacked precise data about plays. It had to rely on .best
guesses1 based on videotapes of games. 4anagement found a ne' information system to
provide better information.

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