Kolkata Knight Riders : TECH RIDERS

When it comes to PR, media relations, branding and promotions, Shah Rukh Khan
is matchless. He has used it extensively in his own career, and brings the same
expertise to his team, Kolkata Knight Riders.

The KKR team has one of the most interactive websites with features like
blogging, online store, photo and video galleries, membership and fan zones,
online ticket booking, and a Knightclub. And with Nokia as one of its key
sponsors, KKR is way ahead in using mobile technology than any other franchisee.

All for Fans

SRK has always responded to their love for him with endearment and
acknowledgement. For KKR fans too he has his bag full of goodies to offer. With
the kick-off of IPL season three, KKR, along with Nokia, rolled out Main bhi
Coach a nationwide consumer engagement program for not only KKR fans but for
all cricket lovers.

Main Bhi Coach is a unique campaign that opens up an interactive channel
between Nokia, KKR and its fans across the country. It lends a great opportunity
for consumers to interact and even influence their teams gameplay. Consumers
can send advice and tips to the KKR team on strategy, line-up, tactics, style,
almost anything that can help clinch the title. The winning entries will also
get exciting prizes including an opportunity to spend time with king Khan
himself, on the sets of his latest movie.

According to SRK every fan in India is a self proclaimed cricket guru and
believes he/she can guide the team to victory if given a chance. "Main Bhi Coach
is an opportunity for them to make their dreams come true and coach their
favorite team. With such exciting campaigns Nokia promises to make the third
season more exciting for all KKR fans," he says.

KKR is also the leader when it comes to using social networking sites for
interacting with the public. According to a recent study by The Nielsen Company,
IPL is one of the hottest topics in social networking sites like Twitter,
Facebook, Orkut and other blogging sites. In fact the hype has increased this
year and the most talked about team is KKR.

Lets Play Cricket

KKR is the most talked about team in IPL, though SRKs business and marketing
acumen couldnt save the team from misearable defeats in the last two IPL
seasons. So it was time for the team to refresh and rebuild their entire
strategy and game plans, and just changing the jersey color wasnt going to do
it!

At the time the article was being written, KKR had started season three
beautifully, winning the first two matchesit was a team brimming with
confidence and power play techniques. And technology did play a big role there.
Sports Mechanics is again the tech partner for KKR. "Being their technical
solution provider, we help the team develop game strategies and boost their
performance, rectify problems or shortcomings, enhance player skillsets be it
batting, bowling or fielding," says Subramanian Ramakrishnan (Ramky) of Sports
Mechanics. "We also help the team to analyze player value that can help teams to
buy players during the auctions. We also help the coach to understand strengths
and weaknesses of players so that he can best utilize them or develop the game
plans and strategies accordingly," he adds.

The Game Changers

DeepPoint, a business intelligence tool, is being used by Dav Whatmore, Wasim
Akram and their coaching team to analyze match performance. It generates crucial
information on team performance and aptly analyzes the techniques used in the
game or during practice sessions. Sports Mentor is again being used for coaching
and performance assessment. This application creates critical information on
players performance which are converted into intelligent information and
analytical reports based on which the coach or the physio can design specific
actions, measures or training for the players.

It also helps in benchmarking players and use them to play to their optimum
capacity. It allows the coach and the physio to study each players fitness
graph, analyze their case histories, injury reports, etc. All this information
is collected and collated in a single online database in the form of video
clips, visual illustrations, analysis, coachs comments and any member of the
team can access it whenever or wherever required. This judicious use of
information might be helping KKR unearth unheralded talents like Angelo Matthews
or Charl Langeveldt.

"We work with each of the teams individually and provide them with pre and
post match analytical reports and information, help them to strategize based on
that information and statistics that can change the course of the game. We try
to understand the requirements of each of these teams and accordingly customize
the solutions for them, using all these tools and applications," explains Ramky.

Twenty20 Pro is being used for match or performance analysis including
batting, bowling and fielding. It generates important information about a
players current performance level. It captures videos of a players actions and
movements live and helps to provide immediate feedback. Maybe, this would help
KKR to turn around from its first roadbump of this yeara defeat to Chennai
SuperKings.

"This year we have developed a new cricketing application that is going to
revolutionize the way T-20 cricket is being played," says Ramky. Till now
batsmen had to got to the field and interpret the ball and take instant
decisions, and play shots accordingly. The batsmans interpretation may or may
not be right and this becomes very crucial in critical situations and sometimes
acts as the game changer. Also, it might be good for the batsman but not for the
team. This system helps to analyze and pinpoint the exact need of the team and
forecasts how many runs are required in the next few overs. The player gets the
instruction and just needs to execute.

"The application generates all these data based on the historical trends of
T-20 cricket as well as weather, pitch and other related conditions. Based on
the current match it compares the results with its database and analyzes the
situation, and gives the required tips or suggestions to the coach," informs
Ramky.

Piyali Guha

piyalig@cybermedia.co.in