Star Sports, the official broadcasters, are planning a few technological innovations during the 14th edition of the IPL, which begins in Chennai on Friday.

With spectators not allowed inside the stadiums, Star intends to provide the fans with the same atmosphere they would have experienced inside stadiums. For that the coverage will be a “technological spectacle” with special emphasis on aspects hitherto unexplored, like fielding and running between the wickets.

“There is so much analysis carried out for batting and bowling but very little focus on fielding. One of the things we want to put in place is an objective assessment of fielding for players, for teams and for phases in play,” Sanjog Gupta, head of sports, Star and Disney India, told The Telegraph.

“For example, the matrix of catch conversions… which is how many catches does a fielder take and drop, how many runs does a player give and save both inside the 30-yard circle and the outfield. We are trying to develop a matrix system that allows you to evaluate strengths and weaknesses of a team based on their fielding standards and of players.

“The second thing we are trying to do is measure certain skills of the game that has never been done before. For example, running between the wickets… With so much focus on fitness, the standards of running between the wickets are critical in the T20 format.

“We are planning to measure speed of the players between the wickets while running and make that available to viewers. We will be able to tell viewers objectively who is the quickest between the wickets... Also, which pair runs the fastest between the wickets.”

For this Star Sports is planning to involve 32 to 36 cameras for each match depending on the venue. This includes the drone camera, the buggy camera which operates on a remote control vehicle and moves around the boundary line and the super slow motion and ultra motion cameras.

“Ultra motion and slow motion cameras will allow us to zoom into catches on the boundary ropes. We will also be using two interesting pieces of technology this time. One is the Piero technology, which allows us to stitch together output from different cameras. Basically see same action from multiple angles all stitched together.

“For example, Trent Boult’s one handed stunning catch on the boundary line to dismiss Virat Kohli during the 2018 edition. During the broadcast you saw different angles but all those angles came in one after the other. Now we will be able to stitch them together to almost create the impression of a 3D view of the catch. So imagine if you had a camera that was actually spinning around him at that time it would look that much more spectacular,” Gupta explained.

“Now that the stands are empty it gives us an opportunity to place our cameras at various places to catch and capture the action from very different angles. So that gives viewers a different perspective on the game which they hadn’t watched before.”

Star Sports is also looking at interactivity sessions to keep the viewers engaged. “This is driven largely by Disney plus Hotstar allowing viewers to interact through social feeds.In every match, viewers will have the option to ask commentators questions related to the game.”

“We have also designed typical cheers and chants that you hear at a stadium — the Dhoni chant or Kohli chant. What viewers can do is at key moments cheer or chant for their team or players. Based on data we get from Disney plus Hotstar we will be able to cue the chant from fans to the player of the team concerned so that they can hear that and also relay it back to the broadcast. The Fan Wall will also be there...”The response from the advertisers has been encouraging and Gupta hopes slots to be “sold out” before the tournament starts.

“Ninety four per cent of our inventory is already sold and my guess is by the time the tournament starts, we will be booked 100 per cent. We have already signed up 18 sponsors and more than 100 advertisers which is as high as any season has been prior to this.

“We have limited inventory available in a match — number of spots that can be used in a match without causing disruption to viewers. We are in a very good shape as to how companies and brands have reacted to IPL as a platform. It reposes our faith in the property... The other part is we are also seeing a significant rise in subscriptions, even on TV. It has already crossed 80 million homes and expecting it to reach 100 million by the start of IPL,” Gupta said.

Given the popularity of T20 franchise-based leagues, does Test cricket have a place in their book?

“Our portfolio comprises all three formats. We have contracts with Cricket South Africa, BCCI and the ICC events... It’s a blend of Test, ODIs and T20Is. The World Test Championship final is also going to be on Star in June.

“We believe we have a good mix which is representative of what is happening in the cricket ecosystem. There will continue to be a mix but that mix will move towards T20 primarily because of the limited number of playing days that you have.

“The growth of cricket depends on core viewers... To that extent the WTC is a great move forward… T20s will get you new viewers while Test will keep your core viewers engaged and you have to constantly do the balancing act on all three formats.”