Cricket Training Apps: Drills, Plans and Progress Tracking Compared

"Cricket training app" is one of those searches where everyone means something different. A 14-year-old wants drills for tonight. A club player wants a proper pre-season plan. A parent wants to know if their child is actually improving. The app store serves them all the same list — and most of the apps on it only do one of those three jobs.

I played representative cricket for Karnataka, and here's the framing that cuts through it: every training app does (at most) three jobs — give you drills, give you a plan, or track your progress. The disappointment always comes from hiring an app for a job it doesn't do: downloading a drill library and wondering why there's no progression, or buying a sensor and wondering why nobody tells you what to work on.

This comparison sorts the real options by the job they actually do.

Job 1: Drill libraries — "tell me what to practice"

KUMU Cricket Coaching & Drills is the best pure drill library in this space: 300+ structured drills across batting, bowling and fielding, three skill levels (Foundation to Advanced), and — unusually well done — separate versions of every drill for parents, coaches and teachers. Free to download; the full library is $7.99/month or $39.99/year.

Cricket Allrounder takes a gamified approach: 80+ challenges across categories, record-your-training video sharing, and a global leaderboard. Less structured than KUMU, more motivating if you respond to competition.

What drill apps don't do: They don't tell you which drills you need, in what order, or when to move on. A library is not a curriculum. If you already know your weakness, drill apps are excellent. If you don't, start with diagnosis, not drills.

Job 2: Structured plans — "tell me what to do this month"

Coach Me Pro offers the closest thing to a syllabus: structured online courses from Level 1 to advanced, video tutorials across batting, bowling, fielding, fitness and mental conditioning, with certification at the end. Its listing names Ravi Shastri, B. Arun and R. Sridhar among the coaches. It's free to download with ~130,000 installs — though with no user ratings yet, there's no independent evidence on quality. Worth watching; verify before committing serious time.

Cricfit does one thing well: cricket-specific strength and conditioning. Training plans, workout scheduling, progress photos, body measurements, Apple Watch/Fitbit sync, coach messaging. If your training gap is physical — bowling pace, hitting power, staying injury-free — this is the most focused tool for it. (Built on the Trainerize platform, so the coaching infrastructure is proven even if the cricket layer is the differentiator.)

Striide deserves a mention for doing something nobody else does: a complete development app for girls' cricket — technique and tactical modules, cricket-specific conditioning, plus mental resilience and nutrition content. The girls' game is badly underserved by training products; this is the one built for it.

What plan apps don't do: They don't adapt well to your week. A plan assumes you'll follow it; real players miss sessions, get injured, lose form. The plan doesn't notice. That's the gap a conversational coach fills — more on that below.

Job 3: Progress tracking — "show me I'm improving"

Ludimos (free with in-app purchases) is the strongest here: AI video analysis of your batting and bowling plus metric tracking over time on a single player profile — the closest thing to a longitudinal training record in an app. Covered in depth in our AI cricket coach apps comparison.

str8bat tracks every ball via its smart bat sensor: bat speed, 3D replays, sweet-spot mapping, session-by-session dashboards. Genuinely good data — but remember it's a hardware system, not just an app; the sensor is a separate purchase.

Fulltrack AI does the bowler's version: phone on a tripod, automatic ball tracking across the spell — speeds, pitch maps, swing/spin estimates. Measurement, not coaching, but the tracking is the point.

What tracking apps don't do: They measure without interpreting. Your bat speed went from 68 to 71 — so what? Should you care? Tracking tells you what happened; it takes a coach (human or AI) to tell you what it means and what changes.

The job no cricket training app does: the loop

Here's the honest summary. Drills answer "what do I do." Plans answer "what do I do this month." Tracking answers "what happened." None of them answer the question that actually drives improvement: "Given what happened, what changes next?"

That's the development loop — try → report → adapt — and it's the reason I built Gully. It's a conversational AI cricket companion: you talk through your game (what you're working on, what you tried, what happened), and it remembers across sessions, helping you adjust the plan like a coach would between sessions. It doesn't replace drills, plans, or tracking — it sits on top of them, making sure they add up to something.

The players who improve fastest aren't the ones with the most apps. They're the ones whose training forms a loop: a clear focus, honest evidence, and adaptation. Pick your tools for the jobs; make sure someone — or something — is closing the loop.

Which combination should you get?

• "I don't know what to practice" → KUMU (drills) + Gully (diagnosis). Structure plus direction.
• "I want a proper program" → Coach Me Pro or Cricfit (plan) + something that adapts when life happens.
• "Am I actually improving?" → Ludimos or str8bat (tracking) + a coach's eye on what the numbers mean.
• "I'm a girl/woman cricketer" → Striide, built for you, plus any of the above.
• "I'm a bowler" → Fulltrack AI or Homeground (data) + Cricfit (physical) — bowlers' development is the most measurable and the most physical.

FAQ

What is the best cricket training app overall?

There isn't one — it depends on the job. Best drill library: KUMU. Best structured courses: Coach Me Pro (pending real reviews). Best S&C: Cricfit. Best progress tracking: Ludimos. Best for girls: Striide. Anyone crowning a single "best" is selling you something.

Are cricket training apps worth paying for?

The subscriptions are modest ($3–$8/month typically) and worth it if you use the specific job the app does. They're not worth it as vague "improvement" purchases. Before paying: use the free tier for two weeks, and ask whether it changed anything about your training. If not, cancel.

Can a training app replace my cricket coach?

No — and be wary of any that imply it. Apps are good at content (drills, plans) and measurement (data, tracking). Coaches are good at judgment: what's actually wrong, what matters most, how you're coping. The honest model — ours included — is apps covering the days the coach isn't there, not replacing the coach.

How do I track my cricket progress without an app?

A notebook beats a neglected app. After each session write three lines: what I worked on, what happened, what I'll change. Do that for a month and you'll have a better training record than most app users. Apps like Ludimos automate this well — but the habit matters more than the tool.

What's the difference between a drill app and a coaching app?

A drill app gives you exercises. A coaching app (or coach) tells you which exercises you need, watches what happens, and adjusts. KUMU is a drill app; Gully aims to be a coaching companion. Most products marketed as "coaching apps" are actually drill or content apps — the word is doing heavy lifting.

The short version

• Hire for the job: drills (KUMU), plans (Coach Me Pro, Cricfit), tracking (Ludimos, str8bat) — don't expect one app to do all three.
• Striide is the standout for girls' cricket; Fulltrack AI for bowlers' data.
• No app closes the loop — try → report → adapt still needs a coach or a tool built for it.
• The habit beats the tool: three lines in a notebook outperforms an unused subscription.

If you want the loop closed — a clear focus, honest evidence from your sessions, and a plan that adapts — talk it through with Gully. Free to start, and it remembers where you left off.