Tendulkar, Dhoni launch cricket web portal

Chennai, Feb 14 (PTI) ''Sports Mechanics'' cricketmonitoring web portal was today launched here in the presenceof senior India batsman Sachin Tendulkar, skipper MahendraSingh Dhoni and coach Gary Kirsten.

The portal named "cricketmentor.tv" is an onlinementoring platform that uses cutting edge technologies andmethodologies for fostering effective interactions between theplayer, coach and the other members of the sporting community.

The platform offers e-learning capabilities to players,coaches and institutions to effectively govern, manage,analyse, and report development and goal achievement forindividual players and the team as a whole.

The function was also attended by other Indian teammembers Virender Sehwag, Gautham Gambhir, Suresh Raina,Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, Rohit Sharma and Ashish Nehra.

S Ramakrishnan, the head of the Sports Mechanics andvideographer for the Indian cricket team since 2001, whowelcomed the gathering said, "This technology is first of itskind in India. We were the first ones to launch video analysisfor cricket in the world in 2000."

"Even today 99 per cent of the coaching is done with anaked eye, which has its own limitations. So, this videoanalysis technology helps the cricketer to know more about thenuances of the game," Ramakrishnan said.

"The on-field coaching can never be replaced as it isvery important but technologies like this could be aadditional supplement to the coach, who can watch his wardsfrom wherever he is.

"A channel is given by us for every cricketer and he canupload his videos for monitoring his own right and wrongs.

They can be inter-face with twitter. It is You tube ofcricket. It has more features than you tube. However, moreawareness is needed to be created on using video analysis insports in India," he said.

Coach Kirsten was in full praise of technology.

"It looks awesome. Good. Certainly what I see it looksexciting. Looking forward to it," he said.

Sports Mechanics, the current performance analyst of theIndian cricket team, volleyball team and squash team, is asports technology company headquartered at Chennai.