Technology has changed the lifestyle of people. It has made advancement in each and every aspect of a person’s life. Cricket, as we see today, is absolutely different from what we knew a decade ago.
At present time, technologies have made cricket so precise and improved that it has altered the way of looking it. The sport has reached to maximum productivity and the only reason for it is TECHNOLOGY.
The advancement in technology has made cricket to reach a new level of competency. The most important of it was the introduction of "Third Umpire”. The third umpire (or TV Umpire) is an off-field umpire in international cricket matches who makes the final decision in questions referred to him by the two on-field umpires.it was used first time in 1992, in a test series, between India and South Africa. After that, it has been used all formats. In 2008, Umpire Decision Review System (abbreviated as UDRS or DRS) was introduced. The sole purpose of reviewing controversial decisions made by the on-field umpires as to whether or not a batsman had been dismissed.
The introduction of cameras in cricket has improved the way of watching cricket. Nowadays different cameras are used in the cricket. One of which is "Spidey-cam". The Spidercam (or Spidey-cam) is a system which enables film and television cameras to move both vertically and horizontally over a predetermined area, typically the playing field of a sporting event such as a cricket pitch, football field or a tennis court. Next comes the “Hotspot”, it is used to review whether the bat has hit the ball, particularly when there is a small nick. If there is contact, the small amount of heat generated is indicated by a change to that area of the bat.
In Image: Hotspot Technology
HotSpot uses two infra-red cameras positioned at either end of the ground. These cameras sense and measure heat from friction generated by a collision, such as a ball on pad, ball on bat, ball on ground or ball on glove. Using a subtraction technique, a series of black-and-white negative frames is generated into a computer, precisely localizing the ball's point of contact. Different other cameras are also used such as slow-motion cameras and stump cameras. They are used by the umpire of making explicit decisions. Speed guns are also introduced which helps us to know the speed of the ball, while bowling or by what speed did the batsman hit the ball
Another popular technology used in cricket is “Ultra-edge” also known as Snick-o-meter. A very sensitive microphone located in one of the stumps, which can pick up the sound when the ball nicks the bat. This technology is only used to give television audiences more information and to show if the ball did or did not actually hit the bat. Unfortunately, at this stage, the umpires do not get the benefit of hearing 'snicko', though a Real-time Snick-o-meter is being developed to supplement Hot Spot technology.
Different computerized technologies have also made their way to cricket. Graphics package is one of them, it shows the scorecard of the match, details about the toss and the playing squad in the match. Wagon wheel shows the areas where the batsman has scored runs, or which is the batsman's favorite area of play. Hawk-eye is used by the umpire to judge the trajectory of the ball. It is used for giving lbw decisions.
In Image: Hawk Eye
Technology has made cricket to surpass its limit. Cricket has reached new levels in every aspect and will keep on improving it continuously. A decade ago, Cricket was completely different from what it is today, and a decade hence it will completely different from today.
