Cricket made its debut at the the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity as Finn Bradshaw, head - digital, International Cricket Council, was among the speakers at a panel organised by Stagwell.

Bradshaw was joined by representatives from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the NBA to talk about how AI is impacting sports.

In a chat with Manifest, Bradshaw stated that like the IOC and NBA, the ICC is also experimenting with the use of AI.

"We are all just experimenting at the moment. No one has implemented anything game changing, so far," he said.

He added that AI has been used around fan engagement and marketing, to help deliver 'personalised messaged at scale'.

"It will get increasingly sophisticated when it starts moving into player performance, coaching and things like that," he added.

The year, among the speakers at Cannes were athletes like Serena Williams and Oscar Piastri.

Will we see a cricketer as a speaker at Cannes soon?

Bradshaw wasn't extremely optimistic about bringing one next year.

"There are a lot of American brands here. I don't know how many of the brands in Cannes are focused on the Indian market. Perhaps, we need to tell our (cricket) story better," he said.

Another topic touched upon was the retirement of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma from Test cricket and whether that will impact the ICC through viewership dropping.

He said, "Those guys are superstars. They have achieved so much and resonate with fans. When I was in Australia, the team faced a similar situation when Shane Warne and Glen McGrath retired. One needs to wait for a while. India has got more depth than any other country and I'd argue that the likes of Hardik Pandya are already up there. He's tremendously popular. Jasprit Bumrah is also loved by everyone."

"There is a little bit of a vacuum, but I don't think it will affect the ICC in any way. People watch our matches for the stars for sure, but also for the context. Nothing beats winning a World Cup - whoever is playing in a team," he added.

Catch our full conversation with Bradshaw in the July issue. Buy the copy here.