Former cricketer Ravi Shastri leads cricket metaverse platform

Esports platform Behaviol has appointed former Indian cricketer and coach Ravi Shastri to its leadership team to help usher in the future of sports entertainment and interaction.

Shastri will help Behaviol launch Meta11 in 2023, the game bringing cricket into the metaverse and taking the hundreds of millions of global fantasy sports league fans into the future.

He joins the team off the back of Behaviol’s US$2.5 million seed funding announcement at its launch in September 2022.

In his role, Shastri will be advising the board on cricket-related decisions, opening the company up to potential investors and future partnership opportunities, while promoting Meta11 to millions of fans across the globe.

Co-founded by cricketing legend Kumar Sangakkara and entrepreneurs Dr Dinuk Jayasuriya, Reza Magdon-Ismail and Krishan Deegalla, Behaviol is a tech company building a new sporting world ready for the metaverse, where gamers build their own virtual cricketers powered by artificial intelligence (AI).

Ravi Shastri of Behaviol said, “Having transitioned from player to coach to businessman, my experience will complement and help drive the strategic direction of our company. When the team approached me, joining Behaviol was a no-brainer. I believe Meta11 has the potential to change the way the world views cricket.”

The core technology behind Meta11 will be used as the base infrastructure for a range of other sporting games in the future, enabling anyone to own characters and have them play their favourite sport in the metaverse.

Kumar Sangakkara, co-founder, Behaviol said, “While Shastri and I were cricket captains for different countries, we are now on the same side with a common goal — to bring cricket to the metaverse.

“Our cricketing knowledge combined with the wider Meta11 team’s technical prowess and the exponential growth of digital media rights and digital engagement from cricket fans across the world gives Behaviol a huge business opportunity.”

Powered by artificial intelligence, virtual teams will face off against each other on the pitch to determine who reigns supreme, playing to a crowd of real spectators who can watch and support their favourite teams in the metaverse.

Within Meta11, AI-driven sports people will be unique, live on the blockchain and have their own skills and intelligence that can be improved by the players who own them.

Krishan Deegala, CEO at Behaviol said, “Building the only web3 NFT cricket game powered by artificial intelligence is an inspiring challenge. Meeting the unmet demand of sports fans across the globe as the evolution into the metaverse ramps up is the next chapter in the history book of the gamification of sports.

“With Ravi and Kumar on our leadership team, and our technology well advanced, Meta11 will provide an exciting activity for gamers, cricket enthusiasts and sports fans for time to come.”