Bangalore Franchise to use AI for scouting players ahead of the Women’s T20 League

The Bangalore franchise is looking as one of the most power-packed sides in the papers for the inaugural season of the Women’s T20 League. With Smriti Mandhana as the skipper, and the players like Renuka Singh, Richa Ghosh with international stars like Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry, Heather Knight, Dane van Niekerk and Megan Schutt, Bangalore is among the favorites to win the maiden title.

The team management will be looking to unveil the next big star from the hinterland. The franchise has decided to unique to use Artificial intelligence to scout players. In the AI system, players will be asked to send clips of themselves in action. The system will run the rule and will help to identify the potential of the player.

Mike Hesson, the director of the Bangalore franchise said that the AI system will be used to find the pacer who can bowl 130 kmph. Hesson further stated that from the batting perspective, it will be about the different positions the batter gets into.

“We think our scouting needs to go a little bit deeper than sending regular scouts to tournaments. There’s a lot of untapped talent and potential throughout the whole country. So, we have an artificial intelligence system, where we look at some key metrics. From a bowling perspective, it will be around pace. From a batting perspective, it will be around different positions that they get into. Once we identify talent there, we can bring them into camps or we can go and watch them at specific tournaments,” said Hesson at the pre-tournament press conference on Thursday.

‘We’re trying to look at underage talent’ – Hesson

“We’re certainly trying to unearth that talent, not just for this year, but for beyond as well. We’re trying to look far beyond just the mainstream tournaments or first class cricket or state cricket. We’re trying to look at underage talent, talent from the extremities of the country, people that potentially aren’t in teams already. The players we’re looking at might be a year away from actually being part of the RCB. But we can identify them, we can watch them over a period of time and just see how they, how they develop. That’s certainly how we also operate and both the men’s and women’s program,” he further added.

The women’s T20 League will begin on March 4 with the opening match between Mumbai and Gujarat at the DY Patil stadium in Mumbai.