There are few things I enjoy more than talking about technology and cricket. Put the two together, and especially throw Rajasthan Royals into the mix, and I am probably going to ask far too many questions.
I have been a die-hard Royals supporter for years, so this was one of those conversations that sat somewhere between a professional interview and the kind of cricket nerd discussion you could easily have over coffee and somehow stretch for five hours.
But what made this conversation particularly interesting was that it went well beyond the usual "AI is changing sport" conversation.
For the Royals, technology has been part of the DNA for years, as they proudly claim. ChatGPT and OpenAI are now becoming another layer in that ecosystem, helping the team work with data, build internal agents, optimise ticketing, experiment with content, and even bring outside ideas into the auction process.
There was also a fascinating conversation around the human side of AI. Where does the technology stop? Where does a coach's instinct begin? And, perhaps most importantly, how do you make sure the human touch never gets lost?
I this Hindustan Times India exclusive, I spoke to Alok Chitre, COO, Rajasthan Royals, Karan Choksi, Head of Technology and AI Innovation, Rajasthan Royals, and Sheeladitya Mohanty, Head of Marketing, India, OpenAI, about all of this.
Here is the conversation, lightly edited for clarity and flow.
"ChatGPT is the only icon that's there on my phone"
I started by asking Chitre where ChatGPT actually fits into his day-to-day life. His answer was perhaps more revealing than I expected.
"You know, if you honestly ask me the first step, and a lot of my friends and colleagues ask me this on my phone, the only icon that I have on my lock screen.
Yeah, and I didn't do this for this meeting, by the way. It's been there probably for a little over a year. ChatGPT is the only icon that's there on my phone. It's like my number one go-to app for pretty much everything that you can think of, whether it be business, whether it be personal use.
So, the ChatGPT icon and the trophy, which has been a bit elusive to us for some time, those are the two things that I've had on my phone screen for quite some time.
{{/usCountry}}So, the ChatGPT icon and the trophy, which has been a bit elusive to us for some time, those are the two things that I've had on my phone screen for quite some time.
{{/usCountry}}So it's a part of my everyday life, and not just me. A large part of the credit also goes to our ownership.
Our ownership essentially is a tech-centred ownership. Manoj Badale, who is the lead owner, runs a bunch of technology businesses based out of the UK. So the integration of tech is very, very natural.
We are probably the only IPL team that I know of who has a full-fledged tech team in-house, with Karan being the head of tech. So it's almost a part of the daily fabric, as opposed to something which is an external element force-fitted into your life."
That technology-first approach, Chitre explained, predates the current AI boom. He himself joined the Royals around five years ago in a digital transformation role, initially working on the backend, web app and CRM from a consumer perspective.
"So Karan has been in our system now for a little over a year. But he's been a part of our parent group for a little over five and a half years.
Incidentally, when I joined the Royals about five years ago, my first role was digital transformation. I essentially started working on the backend and the tech digital transformation more from a consumer lens, the technology behind the web app, CRM, etc.
And then slowly, slowly, my role evolved from digital to commercial to operations, to taking over the role that I took on last year.
By background, I'm an engineer, so I understand and at the same time appreciate tech as well. But yes, technology is something which is ingrained within the RR ecosystem.
Even right now, if you go online and if you Google "Moneyball IPL team", you will see Rajasthan Royals' name popping up. So being pioneers of using data and tech and having a tech-first approach, not just on-field but off-field as well, is something which is very natural to us, irrespective of who's come and gone over the last 18-19 years."
That naturally led me to the question I had been waiting to ask.
Did AI play a role in finding Vaibhav Suryavanshi?
Could all this technology, and perhaps ChatGPT specifically, have played a role in bringing Vaibhav Suryavanshi into the Royals setup?
Chitre's first response was deliberately cryptic.
"Yeah, that's a question we should have over a coffee or dinner."
But he did offer a little more.
"But, part of it? Yes.
We also have a large team of scouts as well, right? Technology plays a great role when you have data.
Specifically, if you talk about Vaibhav, he was not known. He was not already a part of the pool. Now he is a part of the pool, and everyone's looking at Vaibhav, and every team possibly is trying to find the next Vaibhav.
But when we found and discovered Vaibhav, he was almost the hidden talent, hidden pearl, discovered."
There was no suggestion that AI simply spat out the name of a teenager and the Royals went and signed him. Instead, the conversation pointed towards something more nuanced: technology sitting alongside scouting, data and human expertise.
That same combination, the Royals say, is increasingly being used once players are already inside the system.
From bowling data to batting strokes
Asked whether AI tools such as ChatGPT are being used to fine-tune performances and help players understand where they can improve, Chitre was clear.
"Actually, quite a lot..
And again, this is a gigantic question, but I can tell you that a lot of it gets so... ChatGPT, think of it as the thinking and the doing layer. Think of ChatGPT or OpenAI as the brain, where the OpenAI API is kind of pulling in data and information from a wide range of tech and tools that we use, which are very sports-specific.
That kind of brings in all of this data, and then ChatGPT kind of builds an actionable layer for us to act upon.
So, as I said, I mean, there's a lot more that I can talk about it, but Karan is the person best placed to talk about it.
The short answer to your question is yes, we do use a whole bunch of these things. There is bowling tech. There is batting tech. Data coming in from all of these places gets centrally collated, which then, using some of the APIs, OpenAI mainly being the one, we then work on them."
The inputs are not limited to numbers either. When I asked whether the multimodal capabilities of ChatGPT meant the Royals could also work with visual information, the answer was broad.
"A little bit of everything. Again, very cricket-focused question, very coaching and analytics-focused question.
A little bit of everything, from visual to non-visual data. Bowling actions to batting strokes to a whole bunch of other things."
That is perhaps where the partnership gets particularly interesting. The technology is not operating in isolation. It sits on top of a much larger ecosystem of cricket-specific data.
Most helpful ChatGPT feature
One area where Chitre was particularly open was Codex.
"I think Codex is one thing that the team uses extensively.
Codex is something that the team has used extensively to create agents, both on the cricketing side as well as the commercial side.
On the commercial side, I can tell you that it has helped save so much time and effort, that the real people's time...
I'll probably talk about one example. Ticketing is one such example."
Ticketing might sound far removed from cricket analytics, but the example Chitre gave was one of the clearest illustrations of where AI is being used to free up human time.
"There is a lot of dynamic ticketing sales data that gets generated in-season when the ticket sales are on. Using ChatGPT, we created a set of agents which not just analysed the data and gave us an understanding of sales trends, but also gave us an understanding of gaps and how we could potentially plug in those gaps.
It created a visual map and a visual rendition of if the sale doesn't hit a certain number, what part of the stadium could actually look vacant and empty.
That then allowed us to open sales to a certain stand or tweak pricing of certain stands within the stadium to make sure that occupancy is optimised and maximised.
What this allowed us to do is the ticketing manager could then really go out there and invest in relationships, really invest in working with people, whether it be corporates, whether it be B2B folks, and how we could make the in-stadium experiences of the fans coming in better.
So human time being utilised a lot better on doing real-world, outside things.
This is also what OpenAI is doing. It's all real-world, but this was automated.
A report used to come into our inboxes every morning at 9 AM, which we used to discuss at 10 AM every morning, and pretty much inform our day-to-day strategy.
So yes, going back, Codex is one thing which has been incredibly, incredibly helpful."
In other words, the point is not necessarily to replace the person doing the job. It is to make sure that person spends less time processing information and more time actually doing the job.
Can AI help build an IPL auction strategy?
This was another area I was particularly curious about. Auctions are where cricket, data, instinct and sometimes sheer chaos collide.
Chitre wasn't about to give away the Royals' "secret sauce", but he did reveal an unusual experiment the franchise conducted ahead of the auction.
"So that's the secret sauce that you're asking for.
I don't think it makes anyone's job easier, but definitely the layer helps.
And as I said, that's actually the secret sauce. There is a large, it's a known fact that RR has a large analytics team in-house.
But one thing I'll touch upon is something we tried out this year, which was very, very different from what anyone has done.
We created a hackathon, and we opened up a hackathon just ahead of the auctions.
The idea of the hackathon was, how do we really tap into the collective intelligence of fans and smart, intelligent people out there?
That's an area where a lot of engineering grads participated and created their own models, made their own recommendations on what the Rajasthan Royals team should look like.
What should be the most optimised 25-member team that we should go into the auctions thinking of picking?
Interestingly, some of the recommendations that came in, the top two guys, we flew them to Abu Dhabi. They presented to Kumar Sangakkara their recommendations, their analytical models, which were built with GenAI.
A lot of them used OpenAI APIs to sort of build these models and made some recommendations.
We eventually did end up picking up a couple of those recommendations. I'm not going to name which ones. Maybe we can sort of share that with you for you to get a deeper understanding on how we are also using these platforms to democratise access to getting the collective intelligence into the fold of what RR does with their auctions."
It is a fascinating idea, particularly because it turns the traditionally closed-off world of franchise strategy into something that fans and young engineers can actually participate in.
And, as a Royals fan, I would be lying if I said I wasn't tempted to find out exactly which recommendations made it through.
The Royals' 10-billion-view content machine
The Royals' technology push is not limited to the cricketing side of the operation. Their social media presence has become one of the franchise's defining characteristics, and that too is now being shaped by generative AI.
Chitre credits sustained investment in people, tools and technology for the team's growth on social platforms.
"Firstly, genuinely, thanks for the appreciation.
Because for the last couple of years, we have been over-investing in the content teams, in the content tools and the content tech.
And this year, we are starting to see all of it pay dividends, where the number of video views that we clocked were over 10 billion views.
We became the first IPL team to get over 10 billion views.
What are the areas that we've really invested in and where we are using GenAI? We actually set up a GenAI studio in-house with two people who are only focused on creating GenAI-led content.
And most of it is all visual content.
Pre-season, we have our player photoshoots, wherein we create an entire bank of players, which then gets sent to brands as well as content that we use on social media.
This time, the entire sets that we create for our photoshoots were all designed using ChatGPT.
And it was designed by the girl who heads social media for us and who has zero design experience. But she knows what she wants.
That's the best way for any creative person to bring something to life.
And again, some of it is out there in terms of the photo backdrops, etc. that we have there. They're all generated by a non-designer."
The second example is perhaps even more striking.
"So that's one angle.
The second bit, with this GenAI studio.
One specific brand I can tell you, it's a tourism brand that we partnered with this year. The brand actually wanted the players to be seen and be visible at different places of interest for the tourism spots that they wanted to promote.
It wasn't possible for us to get the players at all of those places, but that's where again we used a lot of GenAI, and again ChatGPT being a very, very important part of this means that we could almost transport players to any part of the country where we wanted to and create this experience.
Your content job is done.
You really didn't have to send players all across the destinations to get it done. At the same time, the output looks quite nice and slick, which in the pre-GenAI era would probably have taken months of work and be absolutely unaffordable for most brands to create."
"There was no judgement, everyone was very excited"
If AI is becoming this deeply embedded in the Royals' operations, did the team ever face resistance internally or externally?
Karan Choksi, who leads technology and AI innovation at the Royals, said the answer was a straightforward no. In fact, the franchise had been experimenting with the technology long before ChatGPT became a household name.
"Absolutely not.
And I think the reason the answer there is no, and like solid no, is because, as I already mentioned, the ownership group has been so invested in tech and AI in general that before ChatGPT came out, we used to already experiment with GPT-2.
When it was not a question-answering model, when it was just completing your sentences, we've been using the tech since those days.
So because it was so deeply embedded in our tech teams to experiment with this kind of tech, it was very common for us, the use of GenAI to make things faster.
So the day ChatGPT came out, we were all very positive. Everyone within the Rajasthan Royals ecosystem, everyone within the wider... ecosystem, I don't know, there was no judgement, and everyone was very excited to play around with it.
And since that day, I don't think there's ever been any judgement about using GenAI, especially because we're using it intelligently.
We know where it's really useful, where it has the biggest impact.
I've never felt any kind of judgement, any kind of taboo or anything like that with GenAI."
Chitre's view was similar, but with one important caveat. The Royals are comfortable being open about their use of AI, but they are equally conscious about how it is used.
"I think it's actually the other way around.
We are very, very open about using OpenAI. We are very... so the fact that we are enhancing what we already have using GenAI, using ChatGPT, is kind of a well-known fact and we are very proud of it.
On the other hand, rather than sort of thinking of it as being taboo, culturally within our system, that thought or that mindset just doesn't exist.
And I think it's very important, Shaurya, to use it mindfully and not just for content or creation. The end product doesn't end up looking like just any internet slop.
So we are very, very mindful of how we are using it and what we are using it for."
That last point is important. For all the excitement around generative AI, the Royals don't appear to be advocating a "let AI do everything" philosophy. If anything, the opposite.
Where do you draw the line with AI?
That brought us to perhaps the most important question of the conversation: where exactly do you draw the line?
If AI can analyse, generate, synthesise and automate, where does the human nuance get lost?
Chitre's answer was simple: make sure there are enough humans in the process.
"Firstly, to just answer the last part of your question, it's to ensure that there are enough humans looking at it for the human to not get lost.
So we still have the team size that we have. We still have a content team of about 10-12 people who work with us through the season, and in-season that's a 20-plus-member team.
So what it has allowed us to do is create high-quality content. The turnaround times are much, much lesser.
But at the same time, none of it is coming at the cost of human nuances being lost or hcuman intervention not being a part of it.
So the checks and balances are all there in place to make sure what goes out is, I probably wouldn't say the word sanitised, but properly verified and passes through a human eye before going out there."
That philosophy is broadly consistent with how OpenAI describes the role of AI. One OpenAI representative in the conversation put it this way:
"If I may just add in, please, you can also sort of add to what I'm saying.
The way we generally talk about AI, even at OpenAI, is that the human in the loop is very critical.
Of course, you can get all the information, research, everything from OpenAI tools, but you make the decision.
So I think that decision-making rests with human beings. What AI tools do is help you synthesise data, analyse it, save you time, what we call "work around the work", essentially.
A lot of everyday stuff that gets in the way of doing actual impactful work."
Another OpenAI representative expanded on the idea, arguing that the expertise and judgement brought by the Royals are what ultimately make the technology useful.
"This has been sort of what we have seen across. Ultimately, it's the expertise that RR brings to the table, the data, the people creating the input, and what AI does is accelerate it.
The human taste, judgement, creativity, that still matters. And that's the core of what differentiates excellent applications of AI versus what is generally considered bad. Right?
So I think the human in the game and then driving the decisions, and AI basically almost collapsing the gap between intending to do something and actually having the power to do it.
That gap gets collapsed with AI, but ultimately, the decision, the agency, the intent does come from the people."
"Never losing the human touch"
Karan then offered perhaps the best example of how the Royals are thinking about that boundary in practical terms.
Instead of asking AI to replace a coach's judgement, the team is looking at areas where technology can make the coach's existing expertise more accessible.
"If you don't mind, can I add one bit of context that actually gives a little bit of a Royals example?
I think the way we draw the line, just to answer that question, is we actually spend a lot of time understanding the capabilities of the technology and how we actually use it.
So I'll give an example.
If I told a coach that AI is going to now answer all your questions, like you just have to ask AI, then that wouldn't be the right use, right?
Because then you're going into a little bit of a murky territory or removing the human in the loop.
But what we do know for a fact is that voice to text, if I speak something, the transcription is actually amazing. We know that. We know that from all the research that OpenAI has done and published. We know that the tech is amazing.
So what we can give coaches is, you can now speak your question, and that will get converted to text and give you some answer from our analytical database.
That now makes coaches' access to our data a lot easier without having to go through an analyst, right? But it's still the coach's input. Still, the coach's question. It's just that the tech to convert voice to text is excellent, so we use it accordingly.
Understanding the capabilities is how we draw the line, and then we keep pushing that line as capabilities get better over time, which they have been.
So that process of knowing capabilities, testing again and again, having a human in the loop, allows us to keep pushing that line slowly, steadily, but in the right direction."
Chitre summed it up in a single line.
"Never losing the human touch, Shaurya."
Technology can simulate a race. It cannot replace the driver.
I pointed out the obvious: players still have to go out on the ground and actually play the game.
Chitre responded with an example from his time in motorsport, where simulations have long been an important part of preparing for races.
"Join, and I'll tell you, I'll give you a very different example. Got nothing to do with cricket.
From my past time in motorsport, even when GenAI wasn't what it is today, in motorsport, when simulations are run for each and every race track, the simulations used to be run in three stages: SIL, HIL and DIL.
SIL is software in the loop. HIL is hardware in the loop, and DIL is driver in the loop.
Wherein the last leg is actually the driver sitting in the race simulator and running through the race track.
So it doesn't matter how evolved technology gets, I think that element, that human angle, is always going to be super, super important."
And that feels particularly relevant to cricket. You can analyse a batting stroke, simulate an outcome, process years of data and surface patterns in seconds. But eventually, there is a player standing at the crease, with a bowler running in.
The technology can inform the decision. It cannot live the moment for the player.
What does AI mean for the cricket fan?
The conversation eventually moved beyond the franchise itself and towards what AI could mean for fans.
Sheeladitya Mohanty pointed to the wider cricket ecosystem, including OpenAI's integration with JioHotstar, and the possibility of making cricket more accessible and personalised.
"Yeah, I think we saw a massive sort of interest in the IPL across... India turns to ChatGPT now, across multiple different subject matters.
When something is... people want to know more about cricket, it is part of that.
We saw that there has been a really good uptick of this product integration that we did with JioHotstar, where you can actually have a conversational chat within the JioHotstar app, and that's powered by ChatGPT.
All of that sort of adds into the overall cricketing experience, where we feel India always like links to... and we thought it's a good place for us to invest in building a connection with the audience.
It's also like cricketers are one of those sports... all sports are, but it's a mix of data. It's a mix of emotion.
And there's a unique cocktail there, where you bring Indian human ingenuity along with backing it up with statistics.
And that sort of has the option to create a unique... I believe we're just scratching the surface of it, but there will probably be unique ways to experience the sport that we haven't yet thought about that could be possible with AI."
Can AI make cricket more personal?
For Sheeladitya Mohanty, the bigger opportunity could be personalisation.
Cricket is already deeply personal for millions of Indian fans. AI could potentially take that one step further by allowing different people to experience the same match in completely different ways.
"Yeah, I think, like what I was touching on, is there is... we can make cricket feeleven more personal now.
People will live or die by the cricket teams and their clubs. There is this huge community there.
But I think there is a possibility of, what is your personal squad that enhances the viewing experience of your favourite cricket team?
When you are seeing RR play, could you look at, "Oh, what's Vaibhav Suryavanshi's track been there? What are these matchups that are playing?"
So there's, I think, that's where I'm getting at.
We are also starting to invest in some of these experiences which allow people to, you know, when you're watching a match, you are watching a cumulative 100-plus years of history that's led to this moment.
And is there a way that you can actually build that in?
That's why the extraordinary amount of data exists. The emotion that is attached to cricket is unlike any other, I think we can help bridge that, help teams turn that into experiences that are made for you.
And that includes, because cricket is not a stagnant game, new fans are coming in every day.
Understanding new rules, I was recently explaining to a younger cousin the DLS and all of the drama that has been associated over the years with that particular rule.
I think there is a new fan who can understand the game in their language, which is different from how you or I used to consume it, while a lifelong supporter can go deeper into the tactics.
I think there are unique personalisation opportunities that AI can enable for fans.
So that's what I'm quite excited about."
For someone who has spent years watching cricket, that distinction is particularly interesting. The same match can be confusing for a first-time viewer and almost painfully predictable for someone who knows every tactical nuance.
AI could, theoretically, meet both fans where they are.
Could ChatGPT simulate a cricket match in-depth?
I couldn't resist taking the conversation one step further.
What if, eventually, OpenAI with its tech, could simulate an entire cricket match and allow fans to explore possible outcomes?
Would that create a new kind of cricket experience?
The answer was more cautious than futuristic.
"I think we had Book Cricket that did the same."
I joked that this would essentially be the Gen Z (I, too, am Gen Z) version of playing Book Cricket.
But Mohanty's larger point was that AI should enhance cricket, not replace what makes it special.
"Like, personally speaking, I think there is this emotion to actually seeing cricket live, like the way it is played.
That will be hard to replace.
But the worlds where we enhance our experience of the match, I think that's where I'm excited about.
I think the beauty lies in the journey and what players go through. So I think it's more about experience, enhancing the experience versus replacing it."
The human part remains the most important part
That, perhaps, was the most interesting thread running through the entire conversation.
For all the talk of models, APIs, agents, multimodal inputs and data, the people inside the Royals ecosystem kept coming back to the same thing: AI is a tool, not the game itself.
The data can get better. The analysis can get faster. The content can get more ambitious. A coach can get easier access to information. A ticketing manager can spend less time staring at spreadsheets. A fan can understand a complicated rule without needing a cricketing manual.
But eventually, someone still has to make the call.
Someone still has to walk out to bat.
Someone still has to bowl the final over.
And, as Alok put it rather simply during our conversation, "Never losing the human touch, Shaurya."
For a sport that has always lived somewhere between numbers and instinct, perhaps that is exactly where AI exactly belongs.
Disclaimer: Shaurya Sharma, Technology Editor at Hindustan Times Digital, is a die-hard Rajasthan Royals fan who has been waiting since their 2008 IPL triumph under Shane Warne for the trophy to come home again. Any bias in this story is purely coincidental. RR, please win one. It's been long enough.