Pitchcam - cricket's latest toy

It was only in 1946 that television coverage of cricket games became a regular feature. It took another 22 years to have the first colour broadcast of a game. Since then, cricket coverage has only seen an upward graph. The number of cameras have substantially increased. The stump cam entered the cricket field in addition to the 'notorious' stump mic. Then came the spidercam, taking the coverage to a new level all together. And now there's pitchcam - cricket's new toy.

Placed just behind the batting crease adjacent to the pitch it offers a unique visual of the batsman going through his motions. The broadcasters make a small box like hole adjacent to the pitch right behind the batting crease. In addition to that, there's a small underground tunnel that leads the wires to the broadcasting room carrying the visuals. The camera is somewhat similar to stumpcam placed under a hardened anti-glare glass.

If you have been following the Karbonn Karnataka Premier League 2016, powered by Cycle Pure Agarbathies, in Hubbali, you must have come across instances the commentator praising the footage providedby the pitchcam. This is the first instance of the pitchcam being used in cricket.

Cricbuzz caught up with Puneet Gautam, the director of production, to understand how the setup works. "Cricket as a game is evolving. You see drones coming in, the spidercam being used, the number of cameras have also increased," starts Puneet. "One of the thing that was not really happening was a camera placed really close to a batsman apart from the stumpcam. We wanted to go in a little closer. We have been talking about it for a while and this is something that we wanted to try.

"We figured this was one of the ways to get closer to the action. We went back to the drawing board and there have been several changes from the initial idea before we came up with this. It's not very expensive. It has taken us some money to develop it. But if you look at the kind ofequipmentthat are being used in sports these days - they are very expensive - this isn't that expensive," he says.

The placement of the camera is such that it's in the field of play for the whole duration of the game. There are chances of ball bouncing on it, the players running on it and damaging it. However, Puneet seems confident that the casing they've made to protect the camera is reliable enough to take the blow.

"The most important thing was it shouldn't be trampled upon, the ball shouldn't be bouncing on it," he says. "Of course, the main pitch was out of bounds, you can't step on it, you can't do anything on it. The umpires don't even allow us to walk on the pitch. We figured if we were just off the pitch, we might be able to get away with it.

"We've used hardened material so if the players step on it, it shouldn't really be a problem. In fact, I want to see the players walking on it. I won't say this is completely damage proof but we think that the ball bouncing on it shouldn't really be a problem."

The glass covering the pitchcam did take a blow during the game between the Mysuru Warriors and Bijapur Bulls and did suffer some significant damage. However, the production team was able to replace the whole casing during the innings break without much fuss.

There are certain limitations to the pitchcam. The camera is fixed and can provide visuals from a fixed angel unlike the spidercam that can hover over the field of play and cover different parts of the ground. However, the comparison between two differentequipmentisn't the way forward and both devices are being used for different purposes.

"Since this is the first stage we didn't look at the movement," explains Puneet. "But that's also one aspect we are working on. We are looking at what we get from this, what the limitations are and then we will work on it."

The pitchcam can also be an added asset for video analysts who can use visuals provided by this to study the batsman's head position, trigger movement and other aspects. "No one has approached us yet," says Puneet. "We are looking at it as a prospective about how the coverage can get better. We are open to the team video analysts approaching us and we are more than willing to give them the footage. We will be happy to contribute if this helps the players improve.

"Yes, we've had a word about what the players think. They are really excited to see this angle because no where in the world, not just in India, has someone actually seen such a camera. So this is the talk of the town. They are excited about it, they really want this to work and the players are very happy about it as well."

This conversation took place in the broadcasting room. As I walked towards the pitch to click a few pictures of the cam, I decided to talk to a few players. "No no, this doesn't bother me," says a player who is shadow practising ahead of the start of the game. Now that's a thumbs up from the players.

In the 2016 series in Australia, a Virat Kohli upper cut smashed straight into the spidercam and denied the India Test captain four runs. "I am quite a traditional guy," Mahendra Singh Dhoni had said then. "I have always felt that ... anything that disturbs the game of cricket I don't like it. It all started right from the T20 where people would be like, 'Why don't you wear a mic?', 'Why don't you wear a camera?'

"I have always felt there is a need for balance. At the end of the day it is a spectator sport, people watching on television, but at the same time four runs can matter, especially when it is a close game. People [broadcasters] are striving for more. When you have got out and walking off, the cameraman goes right under your face. The same way the spidercam is right next to you. You have seen players, they are like, 'What is happening?' It makes a lot of noise. At the end of the day it is also about the spectators. If spectators are not there, cricket won't be played. It is a mix and match," Dhoni had said.

However, the pitchcam doesn't really offer any obstruction in comparison to the spidercam, but it'll be interesting to hear India's limited-overs skipper's views on this. For now though it's here to stay.