PUNE: BCCI is all set to introduce GPS (global positioning system) for the men’s team starting from their England tour to monitor the workload of its players. It is understood that the project has already been outsourced to a firm overseas and the process is already underway, which will monitor each and every contracted player and also fringe players. Prior to this edition of the IPL, it emerged that the Indian team management would keep an eye on the workload of 50 players, and Express understands that they are taking it a step further by introducing GPS.
Although Australia is the only team to use this system, it is not new to India, with the men and women’s hockey sides already having a similar system in practice. Even the Indian football team has used it in the past, although on a temporary basis during training sessions. The system will see even fringe players — especially those who have played for India A — also use it for training as well as in domestic fixtures, with Indian team physio Patrick Farhat and trainer Shankar Basu getting first-hand reports. With regards to players who are not a part of the national side, the National Cricket Academy will be tasked with tracking their workload.
As part of it, starting from India’s tour to England in July, the players will wear this chip, which will be attached to their kit. It wil collect live data, be it in training or during a match, and all that data will be stored immediately for reference. It has reliably been learnt that the team management had requested for this project as it has challenging tours of England and Australia, with a full series against West Indies at home sandwiched between the two. Between June and January, India have 13 Tests lined up, apart from nearly 10-odd limited-over fixtures.
This is part of the lessons learnt from India’s tour of South Africa, where pacers’ workload had to be monitored consistently. The team is unwilling to take a risk during their tour of England. “The GPS will give live updates, and even if a bowler’s run-up speed reduces as compared to usual, it will send out immediate signals. So the captain can plan accordingly and understand when he should rest a bowler,” sources in the know told Express.
“It basically keeps a track of the energy-levels of players all the time. We can always ask a player to skip a training session if he has been subjected to more workload during a match. This will be introduced for a few domestic players as well so that even their workload can be monitored. Because we can never know when their chance might come.”
venkatakrishna@newindianexpress.com