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Tag: BCCI

  • Jagmohan Dalmiya is BCCI president after winning an uncontested election

    Jagmohan Dalmiya is BCCI president after winning an uncontested election

    MUMBAI: After winning an uncontested election veteran cricket administrator Jagmohan Dalmiya will make a comeback as full-time president of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after 10 years.

     

    He was the sole nominee for the top post, which was formally filled at the board’s AGM on 2 March, 2015.

     

    The former International Cricket Council (ICC) president, whose previous tenure as full-time BCCI chief in India ended in 2004, emerged as a consensus candidate of the two rival groups as the deadline for filing nomination ended on the afternoon of 1 March.

     

    While one group was led by the sidelined board president N. Srinivasan, the other camp was led by Maharashtra strongman Sharad Pawar.

     

    Both the groups claimed that Dalmiya was their candidate, but the wily 74-year-old businessman has kept his cards close to his chest.

     

    “Three sets of nominations were filed on Dalmiya’s behalf. Each of the six BCCI affiliates from the east Zone were either proposer or seconder,” a BCCI source told IANS.

     

    As per BCCI rules, it is the turn of the east zone associations this year to nominate candidates for the elections.

     

    Srinivasan was barred by the Supreme Court from contesting the election following the Indian Premier League (IPL) spot fixing scam. He is not even allowed to participate in the AGM, but can only vote when required as a nominee of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), if there is an election.

     

    Former ICC chief Pawar, who was BCCI president from 2005-2008, was also eyeing the post, but had to backtrack after failing to find a proposer and seconder from the east zone.

     

    Anurag Thakur edged Sanjay Patel by a vote to win the post of BCCI Secretary.

     

    The outcome of the meeting :

     

    ·         Jagmohan Dalmiya – President

    ·         Anurag Thakur – Hon. Secretary

    ·         Amitabh Choudhary – Hon. Jt. Secretary

    ·         Anirudh Chaudhry – Hon. Treasurer

    ·         M.L. Nehru – Vice President (North)

    ·         G. Ganga Raju – Vice President (South)

    ·         Gautam Roy – Vice President (East)

    ·         T.C. Mathew – Vice President (West)

    ·         C.K. Khanna – Vice President (Central)

     

    The audited accounts for the FY 2013 – 2014 were approved.

  • ESPN INC bags US region IPL media rights for $12.4 million

    ESPN INC bags US region IPL media rights for $12.4 million

    MUMBAI: The marketing committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) met in Chennai on 28 February, 2015 to decide the media rights of the Pepsi IPL for the United States region for the three-year period (2015 to 2017).

     

    BCCI received three bids from M/S Willow, Times Internet and ESPN and after following tender policy, the rights were awarded to ESPN INC at a total fee of $12.4 million for the three-year period.

     

    Speaking about the association, BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said, “We are delighted to have entered into a strategic partnership with one of the leading platforms of global sport, M/S ESPN, which will deliver the widest possible reach ever for the Pepsi IPL in the United States.”

  • Sachin Tendulkar upbeat about World Cup 2015

    Sachin Tendulkar upbeat about World Cup 2015

    MUMBAI: ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 ambassador Sachin Tendulkar has predicted that the event will be even more competitive as it progresses after the first 10 days produced exciting and entertaining cricket.

     

    Talking to the ICC on the sidelines of India versus South Africa match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday, the maestro advised the sides and the players to find and maintain the right balance so that they remain fresh and ready for the big matches and yet maintain any momentum they have established early in the tournament.

     

    “It’s been exciting. You’ve already seen a couple of surprises. The teams have played competitive cricket,” Tendulkar, who is the record-holder for most runs and hundreds in One-Day Internationals (ODIs), said.

     

    “The standard has been good, and that is what people want to witness. I feel as the tournament progresses it’s going to produce some fantastic cricket and we’re looking forward to it. I think to have the same successful combination going all the way is going to be the key and to find that balance between staying fresh and not overburdening yourself with additional practice sessions. You just need to find that right balance. If somebody’s not playing well, then obviously that guy needs to go out and hit as many balls as possible in the nets or bowl as many balls as possible. But if everything is going well, then it’s important to have that energy and peak at the right time,” he said.

     

    Tendulkar, who was the player of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003, said ODIs were now producing more runs and centuries due to changes in playing conditions as well as the emergence of the Twenty20 format.

     

    “We’ve been witnessing high-scoring games because of two reasons. One is because the rule has changed. There is one less fielder outside the circle. So, that makes a huge difference. The game opens up completely and that becomes difficult for bowlers to consistently find those areas to work because there is one less fielder, which forces you to bowl different lengths and different lines. The second point is also the introduction of T20 format, which has allowed the batters to play more risky shots, play innovative shots, and the guys regularly practice these shots in the nets,” he added.

     

    “How many times in the 80s or 90s did you see someone playing a reverse sweep off a fast bowler, which happens in today’s cricket? If batsmen have to chase at eight runs an over, it’s not something beyond their reach, because in T20 you play 20 overs with asking run-rate sometimes of nine or even more than that. So it’s just the mental set-up and the belief that even if it goes to nine runs and over, we can still hit that target,” said the India icon who retired from cricket in November 2013.

     

    Speaking about his journey as a 14-year-old ball boy to ICC Cricket World Cup ambassador and the experience of not being involved in an ICC Cricket World Cup as a player for the first time in 23 years, Tendulkar said, “First of all, I’d like to thank ICC for nominating my name as Ambassador of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and 2015. I remember I was a 14-year-old boy and I was sitting outside the dressing room as a ball boy in the ICC Cricket World Cup 1987. So, from there to become the Ambassador of the ICC Cricket World Cup is a special journey and I’m excited. This is a new experience to me where I’m watching an ICC Cricket World Cup match from the stands. The atmosphere is fantastic. Absolutely, it is something that I have experienced but not sitting in the stands. I was always on the other side of the fence. To be sitting in the stands and to feel this atmosphere is incredible. Being a World Cup Ambassador I’m supposed to be neutral, but my heart says something and my brain says something. So, I’ve got to stick to my heart and support India,” he said.

  • DD to continue showing World Cup 2015 matches: Supreme Court

    DD to continue showing World Cup 2015 matches: Supreme Court

    NEW DELHI: Disposing off the application by Star Sports seeking vacation of an interim stay ordered earlier, the Supreme Court today ruled that Doordarshan will continue to show the World Cup 2015 cricket matches and share the feed with cable operators. 
     
    The apex Court had on 10 February stayed a judgment of the Delhi High Court of 4 February, which had said that Prasar Bharati cannot share its signals with cable operators.
     
     
    The Supreme Court directive came on an appeal by Prasar Bharati, which had taken the plea that the law was clear as far as the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act 2007 and the must carry clause were concerned. Even the High Court had refused to strike down the Act or the must carry clause.
     
     
    The order today is by way of disposing the application by Star Sports seeking a vacation of the stay order. However, the matter will now come up for hearing in due course for detailed arguments. It is learnt from legal sources that the case may come up for further arguments in June.
     
     
    In an additional affidavit filed at the instance of the apex court, Star Sports had said that it was losing around Rs 290 crore every year by sharing its sports signals with Doordarshan and was expecting to lose around Rs 120 crore by sharing the telecast of the World Cup this year. (Under the Act, the rights holder gets 75 per cent of the revenue from the telecast on DD. The remaining 25 per cent is retained by DD.)
     
     
    On the suggestion by Star Sports that DD should run a separate channel without the signals of the World Cup for cable operators or run a scroll that the World Cup telecasts are not meant for cable operators, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi had yesterday pointed out that DD had 1400 transmitters all over the country and it was technically not feasible for DD to run a separate channel. Rohatgi told the court that it was mandatory for a private channel under the Sports Act and the Cable TV Network Act to share the feeds of matches of “national importance” with Prasar Bharati for providing it on DD’s free-to-air terrestrial channels.
     
    The apex court had on 17 February asked the pubcaster to give its response on the possibility of launching a separate channel. Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose extended the interim order allowing Doordarshan to telecast the matches. 
     
    Senior advocate P. Chidambaram on behalf of ESPN and Star Sports said Prasar Bharati could create a mirror image of the World Cup telecast, which does not go to cable operators.
     
     
    Star Sports said its experts could help Prasar Bharati in creation of a channel that only carried entertainment programmes minus the World Cup telecasts.
     
    In its judgment, the High Court had refused to strike down the must carry clause of 2000 under which cable operators have to carry signals of Doordarshan, and also the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act 2007.
     
     
    A bench of Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva passed the order on the plea of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), ESPN and Star who had contended that cable TV operators were getting live feeds through DD channels free of cost, resulting in loss of revenue for them.
     
     
    In the order, the Court had said: “The appeal as well as writ petition (civil) 8458/2007 are allowed to the extent that the live broadcasting signal shared by ESPN/STAR by virtue of the Sports Act with Prasar Bharati, shall not be carried in the designated Doordarshan channels under the must carry obligation cast by the Cable TV Network Act on cable operators. This shall operate prospectively.”
     
     
    In its directive, the Court had observed that while the advertisement revenue received by DD in respect of the shared content of the sports channels was to be shared in the ratio of not less than 75:25, “it still does not cater to the loss of subscription revenue” by ESPN and Star.

    BCCI, Nimbus Communications Ltd and the two sports channels (ESPN and Star) had challenged the high court’s single judge November 2007 order rejecting their pleas that no cable television network, Direct-to-Home (DTH) Network, multi-system network or local cable operator could broadcast such sports events without a licence from the content owners.  

  • Social media: An alternate playground for World Cup 2015

    Social media: An alternate playground for World Cup 2015

     MUMBAI: While Australia and New Zealand are the epicentre of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook too are planning to make the most of the event by not only introducing a host of innovations but also seeing a number of mentions on these platforms.

     

    Since sports is the ultimate real-time experience, fans on Twitter are getting live updates from their favourite teams, players, coaches, writers, celebrities and fellow fans.

     

    For these reasons, the micro blogging site has created a special Cricket World Cup 2015 timeline called as #CWC15 timeline. According to twitter the most followed players from each of the 14 countries are Mohammad Nabi of Afghanistan, Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh, Virat Kohli of India, Ross Taylor of New Zealand, Michael Clarke of Australia, Kyle Coetzer of Scotland and Stuart Broad of England. From team Ireland Kevin O’Brien is the most followed from the country and from team South Africa AB De Villiers is the most followed on twitter.

     

    Kumar Sangakara is the most followed cricketer from the island country while Shahid Afridi has made it to the list from neighbouring Pakistan. Chris Gayle is the most followed from West Indies while Brendan Taylor is the most followed from Zimbabwe. 

     

    The micro blogging site has also come up with a twitter dream team. This dream team is composed of the most-mentioned players on the site over the past 12 months, forming a first XI. Those who made to the coveted list are Ahmed Shehzad of Pakistan, Virat Kohli of India, Younis Khan of Pakistan, M S Dhoni from India, Mitchell Johnson from Australia, James Anderson and Stuart Broad from England, Shahid Afridi from Pakistan, Moeen Ali from England, Michael Clarke from Australia and Rohit Sharma from India.

     

    With the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Twitter partnering for the World Cup, the cricket body’s account provides access to the players, and it’s where they will be posting photos, videos and breaking news from inside the camp of the Men in Blue. 

     

    Speaking about the same, Twitter India and Southeast Asia market director Rishi Jaitly says, “In India, Twitter is focused on reaching every person with a mobile phone and this product is in service of that goal. We applaud the BCCI for taking the initiative to make it even more accessible for fans to stay in touch with the latest on Indian cricket.”

     

    Twitter has also introduced digital innovations for the coveted tournament. For instance it has come up with a daily recap video on the native video player. If one has missed any of the live action, ICC will send a native video tweet at the end of every match day. This is exclusive to people following the account and will have some of the best action from the game and expert views. The five minute show will go out each evening showcasing each key element of that day’s match.

     

    Meanwhile digital service provider  ‘TO THE NEW’ has come up with some trends it picked up during India’s clash against Pakistan, where the neighbouring country were thrashed bitterly by the Men in Blue. According to the report, the most number of tweets came from India (74.5 per cent), Pakistan ( 5.8 per cent ), Saudi Arabia (4.4 per cent), USA (4.3 per cent) and UK (2.8 per cent) while that of the other countries put together stood at 8.1 per cent.

     

    The report further states that 79 per cent of the tweets were by males while females made up for 21 per cent of the tweets during the match.

     

    According to Twitter India, there were a total of 118.3 million live tweet impressions during the clash of the titans. The top three tweets per minute were when India became victorious by 76 runs (9,987 tweets per minute ). Two, when Virat Kohli scored a top notch century (7,159 tweets per minute) and when Kohli was dismissed by 107 runs (6,916 tweets per minute).

     

    The report also states that the most mentioned players from India were Virat Kohli, M S Dhoni, and Suresh Raina. From Pakistan Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, and Sohail Khan made it to the list.

     

    Facebook too has become an alternate stadium for the World Cup. Globally nine million people had 25 million interactions about India’s victory over Pakistan. One can join the conversation by posting about the match one is watching by tapping the smiley icon before one shares a post, select the option “watching” and choose the specific match.

     

    Through a “Weekly Corner with Cricket Legends,” it has come up with a six part video Q&A series with some of the world’s leading cricketers. For this one will hav e to keep an eye on the ICC Cricket World Cup page each Monday to see interviews with Shane Warne, Yuvraj Singh, and more. Fans can also find in match highlights on the Star Sports’ Facebook page.

     

    The Facebook blog post can be accessed here: http://media.fb.com/2015/02/16/the-cricket-world-cup-on-facebook/ 

     

    Cricket on Facebook

    Indian Cricket Team

    Star Sports India

    ICC Cricket World Cup page

    ESPN Cricinfo

    Aaj Tak, Headlines Today, India Today

    CNN-IBN, IBN7

    SKY Sport NZ

    FOX Sports Australia

    Liv your fame

    Being Indian Channel

    BigFM Radio

  • India Cements transfers CSK stake to Chennai Super Kings Cricket

    India Cements transfers CSK stake to Chennai Super Kings Cricket

    MUMBAI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president-in-exile N Srinivasan led India Cements’ board has approved the transfer of Indian Premier League (IPL) team Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to a wholly-owned subsidiary Chennai Super Kings Cricket Limited. A decision to this effect was taken at a board meeting of the company, held on 11 February.

     

    “Pursuant to the decision of Board of Directors of India Cements, the company transferred the IPL franchise rights to its wholly-owned subsidiary Chennai Super Kings Cricketd,” Srinivasan told reporters after the meeting.

     

    He also added, “The Board considered a proposal for reorganisation of Chennai Super Kings Cricket under which ownership of the franchise will be issued to the shareholders of India Cements, subject to necessary approvals.”

     

    Srinivasan, was barred by the Supreme Court from contesting any polls of the board till he gave up ownership of the IPL team. Though he confirmed transfer of stakes, he did not specify who would be at the helm of Chennai Super Kings Cricket.

     

    “This is the first step in slowly getting into a fully cement focussed company,” he asserted, declining to comment on how the new subsidiary would be capitalised.

     

    Last month, a Supreme Court bench of Justice T S Thakur and Justice F M I Khalifulla had assailed the amendment in BCCI rules permitting cricket administrators like Srinivasan to have commercial interest by owing teams in IPL and Champions League and said it was bad on grounds of conflict of interest.

     

  • Eden Gardens to host opening and closing ceremony of IPL 2015

    Eden Gardens to host opening and closing ceremony of IPL 2015

    MUMBAI: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the Pepsi IPL 2014 winners, will commence their defence of the title, on home turf, on 8 April 2015. The opening encounter of the Pepsi IPL 2015 will see them play Mumbai Indians, at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

     

    A total of 60 matches (including the four playoffs) will be played over a period of 47 days, in the eighth season of the flagship tournament.

     

    The Maharashtra Cricket Association International Stadium at Pune will host three home games of Kings XI Punjab, whilst the Dr. YSR ACA-VDCA Stadium at Visakhapatnam will host three home games of Sunrisers Hyderabad. After a hiatus in 2014, the Shahid Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium at Raipur will once again stage two home games of Delhi Daredevils. Rajasthan Royals will play their home games at the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad, and another venue that will be confirmed shortly.

     

    The Pepsi IPL 2015 Final will be played at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on 24 May 2015. The schedule is available at http://www.iplt20.com/schedule.

     

    IPL Governing Council chairman Ranjib Biswal said, “The top players from all over the world will be seen in action this year at the Pepsi IPL 2015. I am looking forward to some exciting contests in the middle. Over the next couple of weeks, the teams will strengthen their squads in preparedness for the 2015 edition of the Pepsi IPL. I am excited to join the fans to see a lot of exciting cricket over the next three months.”

  • Star to stream IPL matches on Hotstar.com

    Star to stream IPL matches on Hotstar.com

    MUMBAI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday awarded the global Internet and mobile rights for the Indian Premier League (IPL) to Novi Digital Entertainment, a unit of Star India, for Rs 302.2 crore for a three-year period ending 2017.

     

    This time around, Star will stream the matches live on its newly launched Video On Demand (VOD) platform hotstar.com. In the last season, the matches were streamed at Star India’s sports VOD venture starsports.com, which works on paid subscription. While IPL 7 recorded 64 million video views on starsports.com, the broadcaster is expecting a jump of 50 per cent or more in the numbers this year.

     

    Starsports.com streams numerous sports event live and exclusive, which includes marquee football tourneys like Barclays Premier League, La Liga, FA Cup. The sports VOD platform will also stream ICC cricket world cup matches live.

     

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, a source from Star India said, “Pepsi IPL rights has been primarily bought for Hotstar. We formally launched Hotstar a week ago and its already above Whatsaap and Facebook in play store top free list. The VOD platform has drama, movies and sports and I am sure it is the next big thing.” The source added, “We are yet to decide whether we will stream IPL 2015 on Starsports.com.” 

     

    The decision to stream the matches on Hotstar.com indicates Star’s will to promote the venture. IPL is one of the biggest sports event in the calendar and would be the apt platform for Hotstar’s promotion.

     

    In a first for India, Indya Interactive Services (which runs Hotstar.com) earlier premiered the Star Guild Awards 2015 on the video on demand service on 17 January. The award function was aired on Star Plus a day later on 18 January.

  • DD can share World Cup signals with cable operators: Supreme Court

    DD can share World Cup signals with cable operators: Supreme Court

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has stayed the order of the Delhi High Court barring Doordarshan from sharing the signals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 with cable operators.

     

    The leave petition will meanwhile be heard on 17 February by when ESPN and Star Sports will submit their replies.

     

    In its judgment, the High Court had refused to strike down the must carry clause under which cable operators have to carry signals of Doordarshan nor the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act 2007.

     

    A bench of Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva passed the order on the plea of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), ESPN and Star who had contended that cable TV operators were getting live feeds through DD channels free of cost, resulting in loss of revenue for them.

     

    In its order, the Court refused to strike down a 2000 notification issued by Prasar Bharati, which made it mandatory for cable operators to carry DD National and DD News channels. Simultaneously, the court also rejected the additional prayers by ESPN Star to strike down Section 3 of the Sports Act, which makes it mandatory for them to share with Prasar Bharati the live feed of sporting events of national importance.

     

    DD officials said the Mandatory Sharing Act was clear that matches would have to be shared with DD on its terrestrial network and via its direct-to-home Freedish. An official said the directive by the Court appeared to be a precautionary measure aimed at warning cable operators who pirate the signals and not Doordarshan.

     

    In the order, the High Court had said, “The appeal as well as writ petition (civil) 8458/2007 are allowed to the extent that the live broadcasting signal shared by ESPN/Star by virtue of the Sports Act with Prasar Bharati, shall not be carried in the designated Doordarshan channels under the must carry obligation cast by the Cable TV Network Act on cable operators. This shall operate prospectively.”

     

    In its directive, the Court had also observed that while the advertisement revenue received by DD in respect of the shared content of the sports channels was to be shared in the ratio of not less than 75:25, “it still does not cater to the loss of subscription revenue” by ESPN and Star.

     

    BCCI, Nimbus Communications Ltd and the two sports channels (ESPN and Star) had challenged the High Court’s single judge November 2007 order rejecting their pleas that no cable television network, Direct-to-Home (DTH) Network, multi-system network or local cable operator could broadcast such sports events without a licence from the content owners.

  • Star Sports’ new World Cup TVC takes pot shots at Pakistan’s consistent loss to India

    Star Sports’ new World Cup TVC takes pot shots at Pakistan’s consistent loss to India

    MUMBAI: While the world is gearing up for the soon to begin ICC Cricket World Cup, fans in India and Pakistan are an excited lot too as India clashes with its arch rivals on 15 February during their opening match. To add to the excitement, official broadcast network – Star Sports – has launched a TVC as part of its overall campaign titled #WontGiveItBack.

     

    The 60 second TVC shows a young Pakistan cricket fan sporting the team colours waiting to celebrate the victory over India in the World Cup since 1992. The wait has been so long that he now has a son, who also repeats his father’s routine to no avail as India eventually defeats them. The comic element of the film revolves around the fans’ routine of getting the crackers out for celebration in every edition of the World Cup when India plays Pakistan, in anticipation of their win but only to shelf them back again in disappointment.

     

    The communication brief for the TVC stated that India versus Pakistan in the World Cup is the biggest game on the cricket calendar. It also happens to be the first game for both the teams as they kick off their respective WC campaigns. Secondly, the brief was to ignite a sense of pride and passion amongst Indian cricket fans.

     

    The statistical insight was based on the fact that India holds the bragging rights to this game. India and Pakistan have played each other in the World Cup five times and India has come out victorious each time.  

     

    The TVC is produced by Bubblewrap Films, directed by Suresh Triveni and produced by Ketaki Guhagarkar. The Star Sports team comprised Rohit Khanna, Venkataraman Mandalam, Juju Basu, Mustafa Rangwala, Vikas Dubey, Prathamesh Sapte, Atulya Parashar, Ajeet Mestry and Dayanand Bhoite.

     

    The TVC so far has garnered 2,50,050+ views on YouTube. The highly anticipated match will be telecast live on Star Sports 1, Star Sports 3, Star Sports HD 1, Star Sports HD 3 and starsports.com. The coverage of the match will begin from 7:30 am.

     

     

    Click here to watch the TVC