Virendra Sehwag takes cricket coaching online with sports startup Cricuru

Ace cricketer Virendra Sehwag on Wednesday unveiled his sports training startup Cricuru to bring cricket training over the internet. Cricuru is an online platform for cricket coaching, which it delivers through a repository of video tutorials by professional cricketers and an artificial intelligence-powered tool for improving basic techniques.

The launch comes at a time when all kinds of physical training – from gyms to dance and yoga – have moved online. Cricuru, according to Sehwag, will make semi-professional cricket coaching accessible to players in remote cities as well those who have had their training suspended due to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

Sehwag teamed up with cricketer and former India Cricket Team Coach Sanjay Bangar to create Cricuru, which was entirely developed between October 2020 and February 2021, he said. Cricuru is the first such online cricketing offering in India, according to Bangar, and was in-part inspired by US education subscription company MasterClass.

Cricuru is offered over a web interface, with Android and iOS app versions currently in the works. It offers paid subscriptions to learners, who get access to pre-recorded lessons from 34 professionals – a glamorous list that includes AB de Villiers, Brett Lee, Brian Lara, Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Harbhajan Singh, Jonty Rhodes, among others.

“Our content and approach is divided into the two themes – “technique” and “mindset”’, Sehwag said over a Zoom interview. “Learners need not only guidance on techniques, say the batting stance or five ways to play a cut shot, but also the mindset (of a player) and this is where perspectives from professionals come into play,” he said.

The subscriptions come in tiers. For lessons from one coach, subscribers will pay anywhere from Rs 299 to Rs 1,199 per learner per year depending on the coach. A combined package – which has content from 10 players, a mix of bowlers and batsmen –costs Rs 4,999 per learner per year. The AI-analysis tool is currently offered only in the combined package.

“AI analysis evaluation tool, currently in beta, will form a big part of the offering,” said Sehwag. A learner must record herself batting (bowling not supported presently) from 18 yards away for five minutes and upload the video file on Cricuru website. The algorithm will score it on pointers such as stance, balance, bat swing and follow through and so on.

The founders said the target audience is 9-23 year-olds, school and college students, and 30-45-year-olds who are revisiting the game as hobbyists. While there was interest from investors, the venture was entirely funded by Sehwag and Bangar. “In the next stage we may open up for investment as we have marketing plans and we also want to continuously invite more cricketers to create lessons,” said Sehwag.

This isn’t the first time Sehwag, who retired from professional cricket in 2015, has taken the entrepreneurial route. In 2007, he acquired a 25 per cent stake in Chennai-based Sports Mechanics, a sports data analytics firm. He still owns the stake.

Some other cricket personalities too, are active investors. Yuvraj Singh holds stakes in Healthians, Holosuit, JetSetGo, EasyDiner, Wellversed, among a few other through his vehicle YouWeCan (YWC) Ventures, while sports commentator Harsha Bhogle has investments in Chqbook and Fantasy Akhada.