Shastri: Media and Technology as Essential as Helmets in Modern Cricket

“Media and technology are like helmets in a cricket kit,” said former Indian Captain and Coach Ravi Shastri on Friday, while urging the players to accept both as they helped sports get where it is today. Without media and tech, sports couldn’t have evolved so effectively in the last 4-5 decades.

Shastri stated that they have won many tournaments in the last 40 years after winning for the first time in 1983. During those days, the only medium for sports to get across to people was radio and Doordarshan.

Sports Evolution – Thanks to Media and Tech: Shastri

“India has won a lot of tournaments in the last 40 years since we first won it in 1983. We made people dream,” the 62-year-old Shastri said during a panel discussion on ‘Intersection of Sports, Technology, Entrepreneurship and Media’ at the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES).

“But you need the support. It’s like you had pads in your kit bag, you had a cricket bat in your kit bag, media is part of the kit bag. Media and technology is like a helmet in your cricket bag; you jolly well embrace it.”

“I have seen this game evolve, each one of the players here have been a part of it to see where the game has gone in last 40-45 years…Without these platforms, the game wouldn’t have evolved the way it has,” he said.”In my time, it was radio and Doordarshan.

Relationship with brands was only (about) ads, it was (about) logos.” “There was no brand association, there was no social media. There was no podcast, but this is where it is going, and it is only getting bigger,” he added.

Shastri Lists Media and Tech’s Advantages

Shastri said that technology is a significant element of sports in today’s world, implying that the players need to learn to accept it and how to use it to their advantage. He also stressed the benefits of media and technology for the players.

“What technology has done for the sport is unbelievable. Today, a player can go back and watch himself 100 times. There’ll be enough replays showing what he’s done right, what he’s done wrong,” he said.

“There’s technology to go even more into detail, to tell you more about your opponent, about yourself, about your strengths, your weaknesses, to then take on opposition wherever it exists and kill them.”

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