Bangalore, Oct 14 Former India cricketer Parthiv Patel on Wednesday announced that he has ventured into entrepreneurship by co-founding SportzEngage, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform which has built a virtual “companion” for players to improve themselves through video analysis, personalised feedback and continuous performance tracking.
After stepping away from international cricket, Patel transitioned into talent scouting and coaching, working with the IPL franchises Mumbai Indians and later Gujarat Titans. For SportzEngage, his partners are entrepreneurs Kunal Abhishek and Shamik Datta. The virtual companion is called CRiQ.
“Throughout my career, I have seen how much of cricket still depends on fragmented information and individual observation,” said Patel in a press release.
Patel said the platform gives players an opportunity to be identified, regardless of who watches them play.
“Every coach sees something slightly different, not because they are wrong, but because human observation has limits. I have seen talented players go unnoticed simply because the right person wasn’t watching on the right day.
“Talent shouldn’t depend on who happens to be watching. That’s the problem we set out to solve,” he said.
The 41-year-old said AI can help gain insights into a player’s performance and improve the game. However, it cannot replace a good coach.
“I believe AI can democratise access to cricket intelligence and make the quality of insight available to a young player far less dependent on where they come from or who is coaching them,” Patel said.
“The best coach will always beat AI. But the best coach using AI will beat the best coach not using AI. I am not interested in technology for technology’s sake. I am interested in using it to make cricket better,” he added.
(PTI News)
