Pitch perfect for fans AI Insights targets one of cricket’s biggest opportunities: helping audiences understand the story behind the live action. Cricket offers a rich landscape on which to unleash GenAI technology, which connects live matches to official records dating back to 1886.“At its core, this is about fan engagement,” Eland says. “Cricket, like any organisation, is focused on growing its audience and building loyalty. What is powerful here is the ability to engage different types of fans in different ways, whether that is a statistics-focused fan looking for deeper insight, or a new fan who benefits from simpler, more accessible and engaging explanations of the game.”The experience is deliberately simple. A fan sees an Insight Card connected to the match and relevant moment in play, perhaps identifying a milestone, explaining its significance and prompting the user with suggested follow-up questions. Insights might give context to a historically significant partnership, for example, or relate a player’s milestone to their performances in other formats of the game.Eland says AI Insights reflects the strength of HCLTech’s long-running work with CA, a partnership that has been recognised with its real-time match companion making finalist in the creativity and entertainment category of this year’s AFR AI Awards.“Since 2019, we have helped Cricket Australia enhance its digital platforms and create more meaningful connections with fans, players, communities and volunteers,” she says.“AI Insights takes that work further by using AI to turn live match data into clear, timely context that helps fans understand the significance of each moment.”Making each live moment more meaningful helps newcomers unlock the sport’s many nuances, while giving experienced followers a deeper understanding through historical context. For example, more than 40 live match data points from each ball bowled can be transformed into real-time analysis, with Insight Cards landing on the user’s screen within 30 seconds of the start of live play.Every ball in a match is loaded with information. At its simplest level this includes data relating to the batter, bowler, runs scored, wickets taken, extras, over number, innings stage, partnerships and match situation. AI Insights helps turn that data into something more useful for fans – not just what happened, but why it’s relevant.HCLTech executive vice president Sonia Eland says AI app engagement can be tailored to each fan’s needs. Driving engagement across all sports Personalisation is key to fan engagement in a competitive sports-watching market. Users can select a “newcomer”, “history buff” or “stats guru” level and receive tailored insights, reflecting growing expectations for digital experiences that adapt to different audience needs.“Fans now expect digital experiences to recognise that they are not all the same,” Eland says. “Some want deep statistical analysis, some just want a simple explanation of the moment, and others want historical context that helps them appreciate the significance of what they are watching.”HCLTech’s mission to make live sport feel more personal and easier to follow has a global reach, including helping improve how fans follow golf digitally on the DP World Tour.As official AI partner at MetLife Stadium, home to the New York Jets and New York Giants gridiron football teams, HCLTech is reimagining what it means to be a fan in the digital age. Closer to home, a partnership with Hockey Victoria and the Melbourne Cobras team is enhancing fan engagement.“What comes next is making these experiences more personal without making them more complicated,” Eland says. “The challenge is to do that responsibly, with speed and accuracy.”For Eland, AI Insights epitomises digital innovation’s capacity to shape the future.“Creating a model that learns the game of cricket and what drives fan engagement, combined with an interface that delivers the right type of commentary to each user, is a brilliant use of GenAI technology,” she says.For more information, visit hcltech.com/cricket-australia