Satya Nadella codes cricket app using AI to pick India's greatest test team

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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spent his Thanksgiving coding a Deep Research AI app to analyze cricket. The passionate cricket fan used it to select a team of all-time greats in Indian test cricket, complete with consensus areas, debates, and reasoning chains. The project comes as Microsoft pledges $17.5 billion in AI and cloud computing investments in India over four years.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Builds Cricket App Using Artificial Intelligence

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has combined his technical expertise with his love for cricket by developing a Deep Research AI app during his Thanksgiving break

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. The passionate cricket fan spent his free time coding and designing the application to analyze the centuries-old game, demonstrating how artificial intelligence can be applied to sports analytics in ways that go beyond traditional statistical approaches.

Source: Seattle Times

Source: Seattle Times

Speaking at a company event in Bangalore on Thursday, Satya Nadella revealed how he used the cricket app to select an Indian test cricket team composed of all-time greats

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. The system generated consensus areas, debates, and reasoning chains to evaluate players across different eras. "The system produced consensus areas, debates, reasoning chains, everything. It was fantastic," Nadella said, adding with humor that he "wanted to get a job on the Copilot team."

Deep Research AI App Analyzes Cricket Legends

The Deep Research AI app showcased its analytical capabilities by tackling one of cricket's most debated questions: selecting the best captain for the Indian test cricket team. Nadella demonstrated how his tool researched each decision, revealing a close competition between Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, with Kohli ultimately emerging as the top choice

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. This level of analysis highlights how AI can process vast amounts of historical data, player statistics, and contextual information to provide nuanced insights that capture both quantitative metrics and qualitative factors.

The application represents a practical demonstration of Microsoft's Copilot technology applied to a specialized domain. By building reasoning chains and identifying areas of consensus and debate, the tool mirrors the kind of analytical thinking that cricket experts and fans engage in when evaluating players across different generations and playing conditions.

Investments Reflect Personal and Professional Commitment

Nadella's cricket app project takes on additional significance given his substantial investments in cricket teams. The Microsoft CEO was part of a consortium that paid £147 million ($182 million) for a 49% share in the London Spirit, a UK-based team

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. He also co-owns the Seattle Orcas, a professional T20 cricket team located near Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Washington. These investments position him to potentially leverage AI-powered analytics tools for team management and strategic decision-making in professional cricket.

Microsoft's commitment to cricket extends to its corporate campus, where the company included a cricket field during a major redevelopment of its Redmond headquarters. The facility serves engineers of Indian origin who make up a large proportion of the workforce. Microsoft described it as "the first proper, recreational cricket ground ever designed and built as part of a major corporate or community project in the United States"

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AI and Cloud Computing Investments in India

Nadella's visit to India, where he met with business and political leaders, coincides with Microsoft's announcement to invest $17.5 billion in AI and cloud computing in the country over four years

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. This substantial commitment targets the world's most populous nation for growth and reflects the strategic importance of the Indian market for Microsoft's cloud computing and artificial intelligence initiatives.

Born in southern India and educated as an engineer before pursuing graduate studies in the US, Nadella has consistently credited cricket for teaching him leadership skills, persistence, and teamwork. His personal coding project demonstrates how executives can stay connected to technical work while managing large organizations, and how artificial intelligence tools can be applied to domains beyond traditional business applications. The cricket app serves as both a personal passion project and a practical showcase of AI capabilities that could inform future product development and market strategies in sports analytics and beyond.

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