This Cricket bat chooses the player, thanks to its Sensor technology

"The wand chooses the wizard," explains Mr. Olivander to little Harry during his very first visit to the Diagon Alley.

Being a Potterhead, I could relate it to a similar conversation I had with two entrepreneurs in Mumbai today -- Harshal Shah and Samir Shah, who just founded Z-Bats, which is a Mumbai-based sports-technology startup. In what could be good news for Cricket fans in the city, Z-bats aims to change the way people choose a Cricket bat, with the help of an algorithm and a sensor-based technology. Hence, I would like to use the same Harry Potter analogy here that the Z-Bat chooses the player and not the other way around.

But how?

Harshal and Samir tells me that they are not just another run of the mill Cricket bats manufacturing company but what's unique about Z-Bats is the swappable sensor that goes on top of the bat's handle, which can gauge your performance from a different set of metrics like your weight, height, strength and so on. Apparently, the algorithm combines your data with the data Z-Bat sensor pulls out of your practice session in the company's basement. Blend together and the company will suggest you a number of bats that maintain 'your body meets balance' concept. Based on the data, you can make an informed decision on what bat you want to purchase.

"We studied and figured out that there could be 344 types of batters in the age category of 8-80 years. This is what spurred us to come up with the concept of Z-Bat that will guide players to make a perfect choice," said Harshal Shah. Samir adds, "While we got hooked to the idea, we ran a survey among amateur cricketers across Mumbai and the feedback to our concept was very positive and promising, which is why we decided to go ahead and convert our dream into reality."

Z-Bats is not yet looking to partner with any international Cricket or IPL team, the company said that right now, Z-Bats' focus remains on those who don't have access to data that will help them make informed choices about what bat they should choose according to their strength and train better.

Z-Bats are available in the price range of Rs 3,999 to Rs 25,000.
 
The company said it would also provide repair services to those in Mumbai. The founders aim to open 10 Z-Bat Clinics in the next six months with the first clinic coming up in Parel, Mumbai and the next stop being Bangalore.

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