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Tag: Cricket

  • India back as No1 ranked T20I side

    India back as No1 ranked T20I side

    MUMBAI: India has become the number-one ranked Twenty20 International (T20I) side after the annual update of the Reliance ICC T20I Team Rankings, which was announced on 1 May.

     

    India has swapped places with ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014 champion Sri Lanka.

     

    In the past 12 months, India has lost just one T20I (against Sri Lanka in the recent ICC WT20 Final in Bangladesh), while Sri Lanka has lost four matches. The 2013-2014 results are weighted at 100 per cent whereas, the results in 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 are now weighted at 50 per cent. Therefore, Sri Lanka’s strong performances in those two earlier years now count for less. 

     

     In the other major change, the West Indies has slipped two places. This drop has moved Australia and New Zealand up by one place each.

     

     The updated table now reflects all T20I matches completed after 1 August 2011. All T20I matches played until the start of May 2015 will be added to this table, so that by May 2015, the ratings will be based on just under four years of results.

     

    In all 14 countries have played sufficient T20I matches to be ranked on the table.  Three countries are unranked, as they haven’t played the minimum number of eight matches during the rankings period, but do have a rating.

     

    Reliance ICC T20I Team Rankings (as of 1 May, after annual update)

    Rank   (+/-) Team              Rating (+/-)

    1          (+1) India                  131   (+1)

    2          (-1)  Sri Lanka           130  (-3)

    3          (-)   Pakistan             123   (+3)

    4          (-)   South Africa      121   (+3)

    5          (+1) Australia            112   (+2)

    6          (+1) New Zealand    110   (+3)

    7          (-2) West Indies       110    (-4)

    8            (-)  England               97     (-4)

    9            (-)  Ireland                 87     (+2)

    10           (-) Bangladesh          72     (+1)

    11        (+1) Netherlands        68    (+6)

    12        (-1) Afghanistan         62     (-4)

    13            (-)   Zimbabwe         52     (+2)

    14             (-)   Scotland            51     (+1)

     

    Not ranked as fewer than eight T20I matches played since August 2011

    Nepal   63

    Hong Kong 30

    UAE     0

     (Developed by David Kendix)

  • Blogmint launches ‘The Loudest Cheer’ app for IPL

    Blogmint launches ‘The Loudest Cheer’ app for IPL

    MUMBAI: Tangerine Digital managed and promoted, Blogmint, has launched an app for cricket enthusiasts, world over. Called ‘The Loudest Cheer’, the app aims to connect all the aficionados of the much awaited seventh season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to their supporting teams. The official launch of the app will take place at a gala event on 16 April, 2014 at Reverb, Noida.

     

     With IPL 2014 being hosted outside India, disappointment amongst the fans is quite conspicuous. The app allows the fans to cheer every time their team scores, thus making them feel part of a live audience. The app also allows users to create their audio or video cheer that will be showcased on digital channels such as YouTube. Moreover, the participants leading the scoreboard with maximum cheers will earn points that will be translated to incredible prizes. The app can be downloaded from the android app store.  

     

    Commenting on the release of ‘The Loudest Cheer,’ Tangerine Digital chief operating officer Seeraj Katoch said, “We are excited to launch the mobile app that aims to connect fans with their favourite sport. The app will help audiences across India to cheer for their favourite team. As, IPL goes abroad, we realised the need for teams and fans to be connected and technology was the only option to bridge the gap.”   

  • Tongue-in-cheek film on ‘Indian Aussies’ highlight of St Kilda Festival this year

    Tongue-in-cheek film on ‘Indian Aussies’ highlight of St Kilda Festival this year

    NEW DELHI: Producer-director-writer Anupam Sharma’s short documentary ‘Indian Aussies’ – a mosaic that incorporates the faces and voices of Indian Aussies across Australia and generations’- will be screened at the St Kilda Film Festival.

     

     The 31st edition of the Festival is being held from 22 to 31 May in St Kilda in Australia.

     

     The documentary commissioned by the Australian National Maritime Museum is a tongue in cheek look at Indian Australians across the spectrum. It was commissioned for the May 2013 exhibition East of India – The Forgotten Trade with Australia.

     

    The documentary deals with everything from identity to racism, maintaining their roots to assimilation, and of course Cricket. The film is like a Bollywood film, with a twist and music at the end, according to South Asia Times.

     

    The short documentary film explores the width and breath of culture, education, and identity amongst Indian Aussies.

     

    The ‘Indian Aussies’ has been selected for the Festival as one of the top 100 Aussie short films.

     

    The St. Kilda Festival has screened films that went on to be Oscar winners and nominees, and Palme D’or winners at Cannes.

     

    Australia’s Top 100 prize pool totals over $40,000 in cash and in-kind craft awards, including a $10,000 prize for Best Short Film. Other prizes include Best Director, Best Achievement in Screenplay, Best Documentary, Best Animation, Best Achievement in Cinematography, Best Achievement in Indigenous Film Making, Best Comedy and Best Achievement in Sound Post.

  • IND-PAK may face-off in 6 test series between 2015 and 2023

    IND-PAK may face-off in 6 test series between 2015 and 2023

    MUMBAI: If there is one face-off in the sport of cricket that is more anticipated and watched than the Ashes, it has to be India taking on arch rivals Pakistan.

     

    The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has expressed interest in rekindling its relationship with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to play at least six home and away test series between the boards in the next eight-year FTP cycle between 2015 and 2023, which will also include an “off-shore” home series in the United Arab Emirates. 

     

    According to a few media reports, the PCB awaits a final confirmation from the BCCI following its working committee meeting that is expected to take place in the next 15 days. It will then enable the PCB to work out a long-term broadcasting deal with regular India series at its centre. 

     

    Earlier PCB chairman Najam Sethi had made it clear that Pakistan’s conditional support for the ICC revamp depends on the promise of said number of series against India. The change in the PCB’s stance has taken place on the condition that Pakistan would be involved in bilateral series against all Full Members, including India. 

     

    It is learnt that all the nine member boards have confirmed their earlier commitments with PCB until 2020 and are chalking out a fresh plan for the period from 2020 to 2023. 

     

    The BCCI could look to slot in as many as six series against Pakistan, due to the gaps that are available in the existing FTP calendar. The first of these bilateral series could take place in the UAE in the winter of 2015.

     

    India and Pakistan have not played a full series since the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai. Pakistan visited India for a short limited-over series in December 2012 which included three ODIs and two T20 Internationals. The PCB estimates that after committing to the ICC revamp, the financial benefits could reach PKR 30 billion from the bilateral ties, the major chunk of which will be earned from hosting India.

  • New tensports.com sees spike in viewership

    New tensports.com sees spike in viewership

    MUMBAI: Launched in June last year, Star India’s digital sports offering – starsports.com – has since created a lot of traction among sports enthusiasts in the country. And the same can be said for Ten Sports’ website – tensports.com – that was re-launched not too long ago on 27 March and has since witnessed a spike in viewership.

    “A lot of research, thought and hard work has gone into the re-launch of tensports.com; we are aware of the opportunities in the digital space and want to really cash in on it,” reveals Ten Sports CEO Rajesh Sethi. “We are very focussed on getting the best coverage and updates to sports fans through tensports.com and going forward, we will only get deeper into the space.”

    To its credit, the revisited site is a definite improvement over its predecessor with various well-placed sections that are easy to navigate. Apart from separate tabs for sports like cricket, football, tennis, golf and WWE, a section has been demarcated for blogs, videos and the TV guide.

    “Not many know this fact, but the TV guide is something which receives the most visits during the day. It serves as the destination for all sports fans to keep track of various events or matches that are scheduled for the day,” says Sethi.

    It was after more than five months of beta testing that the overhauled site went live on 27 March. As of now, content generated is both in-house and from blogs but going forward; the plan is to have more in-house content.

    “The digital, content and marketing teams all got together to really push for the re-launch and I am really pleased with the results,” says Sethi. “We also want to create a lot of social traction and thus, have aligned our social media on the portal as well, and are confident that we will only grow from strength to strength.”

    Since going live, tensports.com has witnessed an increase in viewership. To delve into numbers, the portal gets about 1.6 million visitors per month, of which, 0.7 million are unique visitors. Breaking this down further, 0.42 million come from mobile and 0.28 million come from desktops. The new site has been designed to be very responsive and can easily adapt to various screens including desktops, mobiles, tablets etc.

    “This move has encouraged consumption on multiple screens and it reflects in our viewership as well. After the re-launch, the bounce rate on mobiles has reduced by 11 per cent and that of desktops by 27 per cent,” says Sethi, adding, “Social media is a very important tool for us, and we will leverage the platform to drive our fans to the website.” For the record, tensports.com has over 2.5 million likes on Facebook and 73,100 followers on Twitter.

    Plans are afoot to hold Google Hangout sessions with sports fans to keep up the engagement levels. Significantly, the Ten Sports’ sports calendar is a healthy mix of various sports, with big-ticket events like the Hockey World Cup, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games; it could be slated to be streamed live on the website along with being telecast on the channel.

    “We are yet to try out live beaming of an event, but I am confident of our ability to bring high quality video content to the fans with such important events coming up,” says Sethi. Asked about the business model, he does not reveal much except that the site plans on adopting a mix of ad and subscription revenues.

    With competition among sports broadcasters hotting up, viewers can only expect bigger and better sports entertainment lined up for them.

  • ICC honchos meeting culminates in Dubai

    ICC honchos meeting culminates in Dubai

    MUMBAI: The International Cricket Council met on Wednesday at the ICC headquarters in Dubai for the second of its scheduled quarterly meetings of 2014. The Board discussed a range of issues, including reports from the ICC chief executives’, audit, finance and commercial affairs, among other plans.

    The two day meeting that ended today resulted in some very important announcements regarding the schedule for 2014 as well as the coming years.

    Meritocratic pathway for Test cricket

    The ICC Board approved the introduction of an ICC Test Challenge which will take place every four years between the lowest ranked Test team and the winner of the ICC Intercontinental Cup.

    The proposal is that the 10th ranked side on the Reliance ICC Test Team Rankings on 31 December 2017, or at the conclusion of any series in progress at that time, will play two five-day matches at home and two five-day matches away against the winner of the upcoming ICC Intercontinental Cup, with the inaugural Challenge scheduled to take place during 2018.

    In the next eight years, two ICC Intercontinental Cup tournaments are planned with the first to run from 2015 to 2017 and the second to be held between 2019 and 2021.  The second ICC Test Challenge is scheduled for 2022.

    ICC chief executive David Richardson said: “The ICC Test Challenge now opens the door for Associate Members to play Test cricket and in doing so gives even greater context to the ICC Intercontinental Cup which will now be a pathway to Test cricket.”

    ICC reform of governance and financial models

    Further to the resolutions passed at the ICC Board meeting in Singapore on 8 February 2014, the ICC Board members agreed a long-term work plan to support the implementation of those resolutions which do not require constitutional change.

    At the same time the ICC Board authorised the drawing up of the necessary constitutional amendments which will be placed before the Full Council at the ICC Annual Conference to be held in Melbourne at the end of June.

    One of the cornerstones of the new financial model is an extended Future Tours Programme (FTP) which will now run until 2023.

    Richardson explained: “The FTP is a very important piece of work as it gives Members long-term certainty in relation to both their playing schedule and financial planning. Significant progress has been made but there is still work to be done to develop a balanced calendar of tours and finalise these agreements.”

    ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014

    The ICC Board thanked the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) for the successful staging of the ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014 and praised the Bangladesh government, security agencies and the general public for their contributions and support. The ICC Board also congratulated Sri Lanka for winning the men’s title and Australia’s women for completing a hat-trick of titles.

    ICC president Alan Isaac said: “The ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014 was an extremely successful event which was thoroughly enjoyed by the players, officials, spectators and media. A lot of credit must be given to the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and the ICC team for putting up a memorable show.”

    “The event helped Bangladesh enhance its infrastructure in Dhaka and Chittagong and develop a new international venue in Sylhet.  Sri Lanka’s triumph means the event has produced five different men’s champions in as many editions. The encouraging performances of the Associate Members and their successes over the Full Members clearly reflect that the ICC World Twenty20 is the most open tournament on the ICC calendar,” he added.

    Format and qualification process for the ICC World Twenty20 2016

    Following the success of the ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014, the ICC Board agreed that the same format be retained for the ICC World Twenty20 events in 2016, which will be staged in India.

    For the 2016 event, the top eight Full Members on the Reliance ICC T20I Team Rankings as on 30 April 2014 will automatically qualify for the second round, while the ninth and 10th ranked Full Members will get automatic places in the first round. The six qualifiers will progress from the 14-team ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2015, which will be staged in Ireland and Scotland from 9 July to 2 August 2015 during which a total of 51 matches will be played.

    ICC Cricket Committee

    The Board ratified the appointment of Australia coach Darren Lehmann and the West Indies coach Ottis Gibson as the representatives of national coaches on the ICC Cricket Committee following the completion of former India and South Africa coach Gary Kirsten’s term.

    Other updates

    The ICC Board also considered a general update on anti-corruption and integrity while the IDI Board received a report from the Finance & Commercial Affairs Committee which included updates on the commercial rights post-2015, Host and Members’ Participation Agreements for the next commercial rights cycle, online piracy, event forecasts and audited financial statements for 2013.

    The next ICC and IDI Board meetings will take place during the ICC Annual Conference week in Melbourne in June 2014.

  • Max announces anchors for ‘Extraaa Innings’

    Max announces anchors for ‘Extraaa Innings’

    MUMBAI: The Pepsi IPL is more than just a cricketing tournament. It is about entertainment as well as the game. And to keep the excitement alive, Extraaa Innings T20, the match analysis show has returned.

     

    Sony Max and Six, the official broadcasters of the Pepsi IPL 2014 have once again roped in Archana Vijaya and Shibani Dandekar to host Extraaa Innings T20. The duo along with male hosts, Samir Kochhar and Gaurav Kapur will bring analysis, excitement and a whole lot of fun for the viewers across the country.

     

    A vibrant, vivacious and effervescent set has been designed for the show. The set is a palate of myriad colours that signifies a cathedral of cricket for cricket fans. The arrangement is integrated with towering arches, heritage artwork and wall-paintings of the cricketers that resemble a larger-than-life set up for a program that showcases the biggest T20 festival in the world.

     

    Commenting on the show, MAX executive VP and business head Neeraj Vyas said, “Extraaa Innings T20 has always engaged and attracted audiences across age groups and regions, be it true cricket enthusiasts or viewers who look forward for the entertainment quotient , EI T20 possesses a perfect blend of both. We are very happy that Archana Vijaya and Shibani Dandekar are back to add to the glam quotient along with the proficient anchors Samir Kochhar and Gaurav Kapur.”

     

    Being a part of Max Extraaa Innings T20 once again, an elated Vijaya said “The Pepsi IPL is the home of cricket and entertainment and therefore when Max approached me to host the tournament it was right up my alley. We as hosts help bring cricket and entertainment to the fans and I don’t think there is any better platform than the IPL.”

     

    Dandekar added, “IPL is the biggest sporting and entertainment event of the year and it is great to be a part of it. Therefore, it was a no brainer when the chance came to host Extraaa Innings. Being out there in the stadium with the atmosphere, the ambience, the vibe and being so close to the action is something that anyone would love to do and we are very lucky to do that.” When questioned about her thoughts on the marketing campaign ‘Bulaava Aaya Hai’ and the rapidly getting popular collar-up mnemonic ‘Buckram’, she said , “I’m very excited about it and I’ll encourage the winning team to give interviews with their collar up and will urge the fans of the IPL to watch the matches with their collar up too.”

     

    Commenting on his association with Extraaa Innings T20, Kapur said, “I have been a huge fan of cricket since the age of 5 and on the other hand I also love watching live television. Hosting Extraaa Innings is like two of my favourite things coming together so I am always thrilled and excited to take on this role.”

     

    Similarly, Kochhar said, “I have been the part of IPL since its inception. After hosting the first season I fell in love with it and since then there has been no looking back. I am very fortunate to be a part of such a great property and look forward to another splendid season”. Talking about the ‘Bulaava Aaya Hai’ campaign he says, “Buckram is the new word of this season. I would want all the cricket fans to put up their collar and watch the IPL in style.”

     

    That’s not all! Max will also bring forth to the viewer’s an in-depth analysis in Hindi with comments from the expert panel which includes cricket stalwarts like Navjot Singh Sidhu with his inimitable ‘Siddhuisms’  along with the inevitable Ajay Jadeja. For the first time ever former Pakistan captain and coach Waqar Younis will be associated with the show along with the regulars like Ramiz Raja, Arun Lal and Isa Guha.

  • Nike launches a digital campaign

    Nike launches a digital campaign

    MUMBAI: Be it any stadium, playground or a by-lane, children playing cricket is a common sight in the country where the sport is a religion.

    Playing on the same phenomenon, Nike has created a film called ‘Make Every Yard Count’. The film which is live on Nike’s facebook page was co-created with consumers through an active online participation and on-the-ground efforts. It has used over 1,440 crowdsourced action images of young cricketers in India who love the sport.

    Nike India marketing director Avinash Pant said, “At Nike, we understand that the cricket culture of this nation is not confined to team India and its players. It includes the millions of young cricketers who strive every day to be amongst the best tomorrow. This film is a dedication to each and every one of those young cricketers who relentlessly chase their dreams.”

    The campaign, which was launched on 22 February on Nike Cricket facebook and twitter, encouraged players all around the country to send in images and also involved over 100 photographers who travelled around the country to shoot young cricketers.

    The ‘Make Every Yard Count’ campaign aims to make the young cricketer the hero of the Nike film.

    Click here to watch the video

    The manifesto that captures the campaign idea best reads: ‘Yesterday was not good enough. Today is not over yet. Make Every Yard Count.’ 

    The digital film was created by JWT Bangalore and the song creation and sound design was done by Dhruv Ganekar and Taufiq Qureshi. 

  • Election tracker: Cricket over News

    Election tracker: Cricket over News

    The upcoming election is not just being fought on the ground; political parties have laid siege to airwaves as well.

     

    So much so, followers of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup will vouch for the fact that ‘commercial breaks’ are beginning to resemble the battle cry of the main contenders as they unleash newer segments of their respective campaigns on unsuspecting viewers.

     

    Not without reason for in a country where cricket is religion, the ‘clever’ agencies behind these rival campaigns are only putting their money where their mouth is.

     

    And so we have the Congress continuing to showcase all the good work done in the past decade, with the common man always at the centre, even in the new TVCs. While BJP changes its hitherto serious tone and takes a dig at the Congress in a rather comical way. Whether the saffron party has diluted the message it wants to send out is something the audience may continue to debate but one way or the other, cricket comes across as a critical component of the election strategy.

     

    Speaking of reach, daily soaps on general entertainment channels are watched by a majority of women in the country. With women forming 49 per cent of the voting population, the main players in this election can least afford to ignore this format. Neither can they shrug off the growing importance of digital platforms; especially in an election year when there will be close to 12 crore first-time voters, most of them always online. Hence, political outfits, even the likes of CPI (M), are pulling out all stops to woo the youth in the virtual world to get them to cast their vote in the real world.  

     

    Surprisingly however, news channels are still untouched by the flurry of political advertisements. In case you’re wondering why, news channels don’t enjoy the kind of reach that other television channels, say GECs, do. Then again, eyeballs will flow to news channels closer to the election dates for news and analyses. Maybe, that’s when the ad blitzkrieg will hit these channels as well…

  • Arch rivals IND and PAK square off today in first Super 10 stage tie

    Arch rivals IND and PAK square off today in first Super 10 stage tie

    Updated: 7:00 pm 

    MUMBAI: The ICC T-20 World Cup is underway in Bangladesh and is surely doing well to keep cricket fans across the globe hooked to their television sets.

    The tourney is heading into its next phase as the teams narrow down to the Super 10; the home team – Bangladesh – has already progressed to the Super 10 stage after topping Group A in the first round, a group that also included Afghanistan, Nepal and Hong Kong. 

    Bangladesh opened the tournament on 16 March with a nine-wicket victory over Afghanistan and beat Nepal by eight wickets before losing to Hong Kong by two wickets in its last match. With two wins from three matches, Bangladesh finished on four points with Nepal, but still progressed to the Super 10 stage owing to its superior net run rate. 

    With the win it has joined defending ICC World Twenty20 champion West Indies, former champions India and Pakistan and Australia in Group 2 of the Super 10 stage. Group 2 matches will start at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur from today with arch rivals India and Pakistan battling it out. 

    Meanwhile, the winner of Group B will be confirmed after the last first round match between Ireland and the Netherlands in Sylhet today. 

    Netherlands beat Ireland by six wickets to proceed to the Super 10 stage. The Netherlands now joins Sri Lanka, South Africa, England and New Zealand in Group 1 of the Super 10 stage. Group 1 matches will start at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong on Saturday, 22 March. 

    The Netherlands will play its opening Super 10 stage match against Sri Lanka on Monday, 24 March, while its remaining matches will be against South Africa on Thursday, 27 March, New Zealand on Saturday, 29 March and England on Monday, 31 March.

    All eyes will be glued to the screens as India and Pakistan kick off the first tie of the Super 10 stage matches.