‘Technology will influence decision making more’

MUMBAI, Sep 13: Former India captain Anil Kumble believes that technology will have more and more influence on decision making as no player would be able to disregard the presence of “data intelligence” going into the future.
The Punjab Kings head coach was speaking at a webinar titled ‘Building Competitive Advantage through Sports Analytics and Data Intelligence’, organised by Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai with Deakin University South Asia.
Kumble gave the example of how DRS has been a game-changer in decision making process.
“There is the influence of DRS (Decision Review System) already in cricket and I am sure there will be more technological influence on decision making as we go along,” Kumble said.
“Also the fact about players’ acceptance of being a part of this innovation, otherwise you will be left behind,” added the stalwart who has a staggering 619 Test wickets from 132 matches.
Kumble said that debate is welcome but his personal feeling is that embracing technology is for greater good.
The former Indian head coach also feels that as we move onto the OTT (over the top) platforms, more technology will come into the sport.
“It has been TV and broadcasters who pushed these innovations, which is great for the game and as we move into other OTT platforms, there will be more technology coming into sport and that to me will be the biggest change that I see going forward,” added Kumble.
Kumble feels that shorter the game like T20 or The Hundred, greater will be the influence of data intelligence.
“The dependence on data will be a lot more, because in a short game, as the format sort of gets shorter, from Test cricket, we have come to ODI cricket, then it is T20 now, then there is (The) Hundred,
“So as the game gets shorter, the dependence on data is far far more in putting together a squad, strategies, match-ups, we keep talking about match-ups and that’s how you sort of build a strategy around teams, so that will only be the driving factor,” Kumble said. (PTI)