Jonty Rhodes was the highlight of the first day of Cypher. The South African player and legendary fielder, after retiring from playing the sport, is a coach for IPL teams. Rhodes was in high spirits as he reminisced about his time playing the sport while comparing it with how it has changed over the years.
“It is insane how the game has changed in most capacities. I remember Bob Woolmer was the first coach who used a laptop, he would flip it out and begin analysing the opposition.” he said. The beginnings of technology in cricket was a very basic exercise then, but now statistics and figures are used from a coaching perspective to how players are chosen, he explained.
Using technology in sports isn’t new. In cricket, which has more pauses in between the game as compared to football, for example, technology has calculated the statistics of every aspect of the game but Jonty said, “Cricket was never really driven by statistics until now, like when Virat Kohli comes up to bat, the opposition will employ a left arm bowler.” This is because of the statistics that show that Virat gets out against left arm spin more often than not. That’s what the sport has become now.
AI and Coaching
The analytics in cricket has moved beyond looking at individual players to finding patterns within the team. As a part of the coaching staff, he said, “We look at the power play, the middle section and the death overs whose patterns we look at separately and together. The strike rate, number of runs scored and the number of wickets etc are considered and then strategise our players.”
For example if a minimum score of 45-50 hasn’t been achieved in the powerplay with a loss of less than three wickets then it becomes incredibly difficult to make up for it in the middle section, he explained. For this the teams strategise based on different factors, the conditions of the day, who the opposition team is, what is the condition of the team collectively and each of the players etc.
“I think there is still a lot of potential in tapping personal player data,” Jonty said. There is a lot of data on the player’s physical exertion, from the watches and vests which helps not only in the training but also analysing the recovery rate of each player. “We especially saw that during the pandemic when players had to train in a bubble which is the worst way to train for a cricketer. And what’s interesting for me, I’m sort of seeing and reading technology that gives you neurological feedback of the player,” Rhodes said.
As a coach he says he is more interested in bringing out the best in the players for which it is essential to know where they stand. “The neurological feedback can change how we approach training the player. How to help them level their emotional ups and downs from the pressure of the game, is something we don’t have yet, but will take the game to the next level,” he said.
Allure of the game
Beyond the data and analytics the game is about the instinct of the players who have more experience. The coach doesn’t have to constantly check on the statistics of the players because a lot of factors are unknown. “When I first faced Inzamam-ul-Haq, I had never hit a wicket like that before but in that moment it felt right,” he said.
There is some fear of it becoming too analytical or dependent on technology that takes the charm away from the game. “When the surprise element pops up, which is quite often, what we depend upon is how prepared the team is. There are no substitutes for that,” he explained.
The evolution of data from the first IPL in 2008-2009 to now is exponential. “But the thing to remember is that we only needed a couple of pieces of advice or information to make a difference to how we practise or approach the game and that is true even now,” he said. Data and AI can’t take away the human element. “When new players who don’t have the stats and career yet are chosen, they’re not done so with an excel sheet but an instinct of their potential.” he wrapped up.
The post How Jonty Rhodes Coaches with AI appeared first on Analytics India Magazine.
