Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spends his free time coding a cricket App, picks his dream Indian test team

Satya Nadella

It turns out that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella doesn’t unwind with Netflix or long walks. Instead, he spends his holidays doing what only a true techie-cricket fan would do. He codes his own cricket analysis app.

Speaking at a Microsoft event in Bangalore, Nadella revealed that over Thanksgiving he built a Deep Research AI app to analyse cricket, a sport he has loved since childhood. And of course, the first thing he asked his homemade AI tool to do was pick an all-time Indian Test XI.

“The system produced consensus areas, debates, reasoning chains, everything,” Nadella said, clearly delighted with his creation. “It was fantastic. I wanted to get a job on the Copilot team.”

The idea of the Microsoft CEO applying for a job at Microsoft’s AI division drew laughter, but Nadella’s enthusiasm was unmistakably genuine. He spoke about combining two of his great passions: cricket and technology. And honestly, who wouldn’t want an AI tool that can solve the age-old Dravid vs. Kohli No. 3 debate?

This little side project makes even more sense when you consider Nadella’s growing cricket portfolio. He is part of a group of tech executives that paid 147 million pounds for a 49 percent stake in the London Spirit, a team in England’s Hundred cricket league. He also co-owns the Seattle Orcas, a professional T20 team based close to Microsoft’s headquarters. In short, Nadella isn’t just a fan. He’s fully invested.

Nadella is in India this week meeting business and political leaders, and while his cricket AI may have stolen the spotlight, he had bigger announcements too. Microsoft has pledged a massive 17.5 billion dollars in AI and cloud investments over the next four years in India, signalling just how important the country is to the company’s future.

But even with billions of dollars on the table, the highlight was unmistakable: a global tech CEO proudly geeking out about cricket, coding, and his dream Test XI. And honestly, it’s hard not to love that.