There seems to be no segment of economy that is untouched from the AI revolution.
In what seems to be a strategic move to showcase its multimodal capabilities, Google has partnered with the International Cricket Council (ICC) to demonstrate how Gemini 3 Pro can analyze complex video content. The collaboration, announced through Google’s official channels, highlights the AI model’s ability to process visual and audio data from cricket matches, identifying key players, explaining bowling techniques, and highlighting crucial turning points in the game.
The demonstration featured a segment from the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Final 2025 between India and South Africa, where Gemini analyzed a 30-minute video clip to provide comprehensive insights. The AI successfully identified standout performances, with particular focus on Deepti Sharma, whom it recognized as “the undeniable MVP of this segment,” noting how she “dismantled the South African chase with varied pace and flight.”
Strategic Market Positioning
The partnership represents more than just a technical demonstration—it’s a calculated move to penetrate Google’s largest market. India represents a crucial growth opportunity for Google, and cricket serves as the cultural phenomenon that unites the nation. By aligning Gemini with the sport that captivates over a billion fans across the Indian subcontinent, Google is positioning its AI platform as culturally relevant and locally attuned.
This isn’t Google’s first attempt to leverage cricket’s popularity in India. The company has been aggressively promoting Gemini through multiple channels, including free plans specifically targeted at students, prominent advertising during cricket broadcasts and movie screenings. The ICC partnership elevates these efforts from mere advertising to a demonstration of practical utility, showing how AI can enhance the way fans experience and understand the sport.
Technical Capabilities on Display
The demonstration showcased Gemini 3 Pro’s multimodal processing capabilities, a key differentiator in the increasingly competitive AI landscape. By seamlessly analyzing both visual and audio components of the cricket footage, the model provided contextual game analysis, including details about the match venue (DY Patil Stadium), the stakes (South Africa chasing a target of 299), and the tension of final overs where India defended their total.
The AI’s ability to break down technical aspects—such as offering to analyze Deepti Sharma’s bowling techniques in the death overs—demonstrates how multimodal AI can serve as both an educational tool for aspiring players and an analytical resource for coaches, commentators, and serious cricket enthusiasts.
The Broader AI Race
Google’s cricket-centric AI push comes as tech giants compete intensely for dominance in generative AI. While OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude have captured significant mindshare globally, Google’s strategy of localizing AI demonstrations through culturally significant partnerships could prove decisive in markets like India, where sport transcends mere entertainment to become a unifying cultural force.
The timing is strategic. As AI adoption accelerates across industries—from healthcare to finance to entertainment—demonstrating real-world applications in high-visibility scenarios like major sporting events helps demystify the technology for mass audiences. Cricket analysis may seem niche, but for hundreds of millions of Indian viewers, it’s an immediately relatable use case that makes AI tangible and accessible.
Market Implications
For the sports analytics industry, this partnership signals a new frontier. Traditional cricket analysis relies on manual statistics tracking and expert commentary. AI-powered video analysis could revolutionize how teams prepare, how broadcasters provide insights, and how fans engage with the sport. The ability to process hours of footage and extract key moments, analyze player techniques, and provide data-driven insights in near real-time could transform cricket analytics from a post-game exercise to a live, continuous process.
Moreover, if successful in cricket, the same technology could extend to other sports popular in different markets—soccer in Europe and Latin America, basketball in the US, or baseball in East Asia. The ICC partnership may be the first of many sports-focused AI deployments from major tech companies. The question now is whether competitors will follow suit with their own sports partnerships, and whether Google can translate this high-profile demonstration into sustained user adoption beyond the initial buzz of a major tournament.