Former India head coach Rahul Dravid looks hopeful that artificial intelligence will play a huge role in the future, particularly in injury prediction and other important aspects, making decision-making easier.
Adding to this, he emphasised that AI will only be beneficial if it does not replace the human element in the sport. Dravid, who participated in the AMFI Mutual Fund Summit in Mumbai, spoke about how new technologies can be integrated into cricket but should not replace human roles.
He explained this by saying that he wouldn’t want any technology to create five ‘clones’ of pacer Jasprit Bumrah after his back injury, as that would take away the ‘fun’ and ‘uniqueness’ of the sport. According to Dravid, maintaining a balance between human roles and data analysis will help push the game forward.
Rahul Dravid on use of AI in cricket
“Can we clone five Bumrahs or something? I mean, I’m just saying that, but that wouldn’t be fun either, right? I mean, what would be the fun in that, right? Where’s the uniqueness then?” Dravid said at a Mumbai event on Saturday, as quoted by PTI.
“I think maybe leave sport alone for a bit and we don’t want to get AI too involved in sport. There’s got to be that human element to it. There’s got to be a level of uniqueness to sport. So, that would be my wish really that we’d never get to a point where we are… It becomes easy,” he said. “Bumrah is unique because it’s so hard to do what Bumrah does.”
Rahul Dravid on AI’s potential in injury prediction
“You just look at the level of injuries that we have, and no one really has a perfect answer as to why players pick up stress fractures. There is no one-size-fits-all solution; I am just using a stress fracture in the back as an example for fast bowlers. Over the years, we have seen an abundance of data, sports medicine, and science being applied, yet no one has been able to truly predict these injuries. That’s unfortunate because it affects people’s careers and lives. So, if AI can help us in that area, we will be able to predict injuries,” he said.
