For years, Google Search has been the fastest way to check a cricket score. Type in “IND vs SA” during a high-voltage T20 or ODI, and you instantly know who’s batting, the asking rate, and whether a collapse is unfolding. But when it came to Test cricket, the premier format of the game that unfolds over five days with shifting narratives and slow-burning drama, Google’s simple scorecards often felt painfully inadequate. A Test match is not a highlight reel sport. It is a novel. And trying to understand it through a stripped-down search card always felt like reading only the last page of a book.
How Google has Changed the Game
Instead of just showing numbers, the new feature delivers spoken summaries that explain what has actually happened. You don’t just hear the scoreline; you’re told who’s dominating, who’s surviving, where the momentum lies, and which individual performances are shaping the match. It’s commentary, context, and clarity rolled into a short, digestible briefing. As a Test cricket fan, this feels long overdue.
Problem Solved
Apps like Cricbuzz and ESPNcricinfo have done a terrific job of making long-form cricket followable on mobile screens, but they come with their own fatigue, which includes pop-ups, banners, video ads and cluttered interfaces. For quick check-ins, Google Search always felt cleaner and faster. The problem was, it never went deep enough.
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Until now
The value of AI Catch Up truly became clear for me during the recent India vs South Africa Test series, a tour best forgotten, but hard to ignore. I was travelling constantly with barely any screen time during the day. Watching live sessions was impossible, updates were sporadic, and following session-by-session commentary felt like work.
But every time there was a pause in my schedule, I simply tapped “AI Catch Up” and instantly understood the state of play. Who had resisted. Who had collapsed. Which bowler was running through the order? Which batter was fighting a losing battle? In under a minute, I was back inside the match without heading into Hotstar and watching the highlights reel.
Validation for Test Fans
Google has finally recognised that Tests are not just about scores, but stories. And with AI Catch Up, it’s no longer necessary to scroll endlessly or decode raw numbers. The match talks back now. And that, for a fan of the longest format, feels like being taken seriously at last.