After ventilators, Pakistan to develop its own smart cricket balls

With an aim to turn Pakistan into a technological giant, Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain is keen to develop its own smart cricket balls.

The minister called on the sports goods manufacturers of Sialkot, a city known globally for its sports products to have a joint project with the technical universities of the country to develop this product.

“Sialkot walas lets do that shouldn’t be a problem ... let us do a joint project with technology universities and create own smart cricket ball...” tweeted Chaudhry on Monday, while sharing video footage of the smart cricket ball developed in Australia.

A smart cricket ball, developed by the Australian ball manufacturer Kookaburra, looks like your regular cricket ball, but at its core is a specially designed microchip, which can withstand the gruesome bowling and whacking from the bat. The product has the ability to deliver instant statistics on speed - at release point, pre-bounce and post-bounce that is more detailed and accurate than the existing radar technology.

The ball is also capable of measuring revolutions at the same points, which is especially useful when it comes to spinners. It can also help in making better umpiring decisions by showing whether a ball has definitively hit the bat or the grass, in the case of catches that are too close to call.