“The media and technology are like helmets in a cricket kit,” the former Captain of India and coach Ravi Shastri said on Friday, urging players to “kiss” both like without them, sport would not have evolved as he has done in the past 40 to 45 years. Shastri said that although there were only two mediums – radio and Doordarshan (TV) – During its play days, the game has traveled a long way after India won the 1983 World Cup. “India has won a lot of tournaments in the past 40 years since we won it in 1983. We made people dream,” said Shastri, 62 “Intersection of Sports, Technology, Entrepreneurship and Media” at the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (Waves). “But you need support. It is as if you had pads in your kit bag, you had a cricket bat in your kit bag, the media are part of the kit bag. The media and technology are like a helmet in your cricket bag; you kiss it very well.” Shastri has said that technology, in particular, is an essential element in sport now and that players should know how to use it to build themselves.
“So, you adopt technology. AI (artificial intelligence), which comes into play now. It is for your advantage. It is for the benefit of the team and it is for the growth of the game at the end of all this,” he said.
Shastri said the brand association was limited to logos earlier and made advertisements, but everything that changed with several upcoming distribution platforms.
“I saw this game evolve, each of the players here was a part to see where the game took place in the last 40 to 45 years … Without these platforms, the game would not have evolved as it did,” he said.
“In my time, it was radio and doordarshan. The relationship with brands was only (about) advertisements, it was (roughly) logos.” “There was no brand association, there was no social media. There was no podcast, but that’s it and it’s only to get fat,” he added.
Shastri said the varied platforms increased the visibility of a player who was not the case before.
“We are a country of 1.5 billion people. We are young; 70% of people are under 30. Sport is something that leads you, and if you think it did not lead them, he woke them up during Covid (Pandemic).
“It made the faces smile when India played, wherever they played, whatever the sport, whether cricket, football, hockey, whatever. When you play (Ed), (you get) even bigger smiles.
“Even when you were in locking or quarantine or other. But why could they see it? Because of the platforms that exist,” he said.
Shastri also highlighted the advantages of the technology from which modern players benefit.
“What technology has done for sport is incredible. Today, a player can go back and look 100 times. There will be enough replays showing what he has done well, what he has done wrong,” he said.
“There is a technology to go even more in the details, to tell you more about your opponent, on yourself, on your strengths, your weaknesses and then take the opposition wherever it exists and killing them.”
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