Tag: Rahul Dravid

BCCI appoints Shastri as head coach, Zaheer & Dravid as consultants till World Cup ’19

MUMBAI: The BCCI has announced the appointment of Ravi Shastri as the head coach, Zaheer Khan as the bowling consultant and Rahul Dravid will be the overseas batting consultant (test cricket) for the Indian cricket team.

As part of the process for selecting the head coach, the Cricket Advisory Committee comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman conducted the interviews and recommended these appointments in the best interest of the Indian cricket. The term of the appointments will be till the World Cup 2019.

Shastri has been the Team Director in the past, and brings with him a wealth of experience, both as player and as coach.

Khan is a contemporary cricketer who assumed the mentoring role to a young fast bowling unit even during his playing days with India. His inputs will be of immense value to our young fast bowlers, who have shown tremendous potential in the last couple of years.

As the Indian team is to play Test cricket overseas in the next two years, Rahul Dravid’s expertise as batting consultant will be immensely helpful for youngsters.

The Board appreciates the contribution of the Cricket Advisory Committee – Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman for recommending these appointments which will take Indian Cricket to greater heights.

July 12, 2017
Here’s top 20 moments in Indian sports history : ESPN

MUMBAI: Showcasing ESPN’s expertise in all things sports, ESPN India today announced Abhinav Bindra’s Olympic gold from 2008 as the best moment in Indian sport. This moment was part of ESPN’s initiative to curate the top 20 moments as a tribute to the greatest achievements in the country’s rich and varied sporting history. The top 20 moments were announced starting 6 July with the No.1 moment being unveiled on 15 July.

“It was no easy task for the jury to rank these performances that spanned nearly a century, but it was hugely fulfilling. The best thing about the process was exploring the rich history of Indian sports and sportspersons who have defined it. This exercise is a small but valuable step towards putting the spotlight on the feats and events that have shaped Indian sports and inspired generations of athletes to strive for excellence,” said Sambit Bal, Editor-in-Chief, ESPN India, South Asia.

The top 20 moments in Indian sport was curated by a 31-member jury consisting of current and former sports personalities, journalists and influencers with the likes of Rahul Dravid, Jeev Milkha Singh, Cedric D’Souza, Michael Ferreira, Jaidip Mukerjea and Rohit Brijnath, among others.

The initial list included 75 best sports moments before the jury began the process of selecting the final 20. Once the jury rankings were in,each sporting event was given points based on where it featured on a jury member’s ranking system: 20 points for each No. 1 ranking, 19 for a No. 2, and so on.

The stars of the winning moments also shared their memories and reactions:

“Those are the highlights of my career. I made the mistake of admiring my opponents. I started appreciating their good shots, but in today’s professionalism, they would laugh at it”, said Ramanathan Krishnan on his reaching the Wimbledon Semifinals in 1960.

“The world title came to India for the first time, so I can very safely say that was the happiest moment of my life,” said Wilson Jones on winning the Billiards World Championship in 1958.

“I was playing emotional tennis. I wasn’t thinking. All I can promise is that every time I go on court I will give my best,” said Leander Paes, remembering the moment he won the Olympic Bronze for Tennis in Atlanta, 1996.

The initial list included 75 best sports moments before the jury began the process of selecting the final 20. After the jury presented their initial ranking, each sporting event were assigned points based on where it featured on a jury member’s ranking system: 20 points for each No. 1 ranking, 19 for a No. 2, and so on. The winning events were then finalized based on their cumulative scores.

Here is the complete list

July 18, 2016
Here’s top 20 moments in Indian sports history : ESPN

MUMBAI: Showcasing ESPN’s expertise in all things sports, ESPN India today announced Abhinav Bindra’s Olympic gold from 2008 as the best moment in Indian sport. This moment was part of ESPN’s initiative to curate the top 20 moments as a tribute to the greatest achievements in the country’s rich and varied sporting history. The top 20 moments were announced starting 6 July with the No.1 moment being unveiled on 15 July.

“It was no easy task for the jury to rank these performances that spanned nearly a century, but it was hugely fulfilling. The best thing about the process was exploring the rich history of Indian sports and sportspersons who have defined it. This exercise is a small but valuable step towards putting the spotlight on the feats and events that have shaped Indian sports and inspired generations of athletes to strive for excellence,” said Sambit Bal, Editor-in-Chief, ESPN India, South Asia.

The top 20 moments in Indian sport was curated by a 31-member jury consisting of current and former sports personalities, journalists and influencers with the likes of Rahul Dravid, Jeev Milkha Singh, Cedric D’Souza, Michael Ferreira, Jaidip Mukerjea and Rohit Brijnath, among others.

The initial list included 75 best sports moments before the jury began the process of selecting the final 20. Once the jury rankings were in,each sporting event was given points based on where it featured on a jury member’s ranking system: 20 points for each No. 1 ranking, 19 for a No. 2, and so on.

The stars of the winning moments also shared their memories and reactions:

“Those are the highlights of my career. I made the mistake of admiring my opponents. I started appreciating their good shots, but in today’s professionalism, they would laugh at it”, said Ramanathan Krishnan on his reaching the Wimbledon Semifinals in 1960.

“The world title came to India for the first time, so I can very safely say that was the happiest moment of my life,” said Wilson Jones on winning the Billiards World Championship in 1958.

“I was playing emotional tennis. I wasn’t thinking. All I can promise is that every time I go on court I will give my best,” said Leander Paes, remembering the moment he won the Olympic Bronze for Tennis in Atlanta, 1996.

The initial list included 75 best sports moments before the jury began the process of selecting the final 20. After the jury presented their initial ranking, each sporting event were assigned points based on where it featured on a jury member’s ranking system: 20 points for each No. 1 ranking, 19 for a No. 2, and so on. The winning events were then finalized based on their cumulative scores.

Here is the complete list

July 18, 2016
Rajasthan Royals pledges 2% annual profit towards girl child welfare

MUMBAI: Rajasthan Royals embarked on an innings of a different kind. The franchise will support the development and welfare of the girl child and has pledged two per cent of the annual profits of the company for the current financial year towards the cause.

The franchise has tied-up with two NGOs – Educate Girls and Aangan, who will be the beneficiaries of this funding. The British Asian Trust (BAT), part of HRH Prince of Wales Charities, will work as the implementation partner with the Rajasthan Royals.

Taking inspiration from the Indian Government’s ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ initiative, the franchise wishes to heighten awareness around the issues facing the girl child, engage with its fans and other cricket lovers, utilize its digital assets to reach out to audiences and seek to make a difference by contributing brand support and monetary resources towards this cause.

The CSR initiative will support the two NGOs on issues that affect the future of the girl child – education of girl children, knowledge of gender discrimination the overall survival, protection and empowerment of the girl child.

Rajasthan Royals proposes to engage with the following two NGOs:

· Educate Girls (www.educategirls.in): Funding the enrollment, retention and improved learning outcomes of girlsin public schools across Rajasthan.

· Aaangan (www.aanganindia.org): Funding the girl safety program (SHAKTI) to keep girls safe, supported and connected to a peer network that empowers them.

To create awareness of the campaign “Bat for the Girl Child,” Rajasthan Royals will conduct two activities during its home match against the Kolkata Knight Riders on 16 May, 2015 at Cricket Club of India, Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. Spectators and players will release 1000 balloons with the “Bat for the Girl Child” logo to showcase their support for the cause.

Jaipur IPL Cricket Pvt. Ltd chairman Ranjit Barthakur said, “The Rajasthan Royals campaign “Bat for the Girl Child” is aimed at cricket lovers but also those of us who can make a difference. We believe that by working with Aangan and Educate Girls, under the aegis of the Government, we can achieve so much more to change the lives of girl children in Rajasthan and India. With the brand and might of the Rajasthan Royals behind it, the team is hoping to gain momentum and generate more support from across its fanbase.”

Rajasthan Royals co-owner and British Asian Trust chairman Manoj Badale added, “Inspired by the successful ‘BetiBachaoBetiPadhao’ campaign, we are attempting to utilize the Rajasthan Royals brand platform to build awareness on issues relating to the Girl Child. These issues need as much support as possible, and we at the Rajasthan Royals are fully committed towards contributing our efforts towards these challenges. The British Asian Trust is a charity focused on providing support to development work in South Asia with a particular focus on India and we will monitor and supervise these interventions for the Rajasthan Royals.”

Rajasthan Royals mentor Rahul Dravid added, “Using the power of sport to make society aware of the challenges that we face collectively and therefore, as a means to change lives, is consistent with the philosophy of the Rajasthan Royals. It gives all of us at Rajasthan Royals a sense of pride and joy to be a part of this initiative that tackles issues relating to the Girl Child and to know that we are also contributing our part to make a positive change in our society.”

May 14, 2015
Chris Gayle creates history in CWC 2015

MUMBAI: The Caribbean giant known for his flamboyant hitting of the cricket ball Christopher Henry Gayle has scored the first double century in the history of World Cup cricket. The southpaw hammered Zimbabwe all over the park in Canberra to score 215 of just 147 balls with the help of 16 sixes and 10 fours.

After achieving the milestone the Jamican told Star Sports, “Getting a bit of cramps, feeling a bit tired. We still have 50 overs to get through. I didn’t want to be out with the first ball. I said “you can’t be serious?” I just want to thank god for this knock. I was under pressure to score runs, and I kept getting messages from twitter and on my cell phone. I have never felt this kind of pressure, but in the end, I am sure I gave them something to talk about. It was a bit slow at the start, not to mention keeping it low. I just tried to take the bull by the horns and hang out there and try and build an innings. After a while I was able to pick a bowler to target and then, in the end, I was out off the last ball (chuckles). A lot of time people don’t know what you are going through as I had some issues with injuries. I am also not getting any younger so age is definitely catching up on me. Overall I am really happy, and I just want to try and build on this as much as possible. Want to build on this momentum and move ahead as we look towards the South Africa game. It was a bit easier to bat later on. I am very happy to get this first double hundred and ever since Rohit got two, I have been hounded to get one as well.”

He was well accompanied by Marlon Samuels who scored undefeated 133 runs. The right hand – left hand partnership yielded West Indies 372 runs.

The milestones achieved in the match were:

· Chris Gayle became the first cricketer to score a double century in World Cup history.

· He is also the first Non – Indian to score a double century. Sachin Teldulkar, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma were the only batsmen to reach the milestone before.

· The 372 runs partnership between Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels broke Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid’s 318 runs partnership record to take the pole position in World Cup cricket.

· The Gayle – Samuels partnership (372) also broke Sachin – Dravid’s (331) to register highest partnership in One Day International cricket for any wickets.

· Gayle scored 16 mammoth sixes to equal the record of most sixes in an innings. He shares the record with South African AB de Villiers.

February 24, 2015
Rohit Sharma wins ODI batsman of the year

MUMBAI: Brendon McCullum, Mitchell Johnson, Rohit Sharma, Lasith Malinga, Alex Hales and Rangana Herath are amongst the winners of the eighth edition of annual ESPNcricinfo Awards for the best batting and bowling performances in Tests, ODIs and T20s in 2014.

The winners were picked by a jury consisting of Rahul Dravid, Ian Chappell, Ricky Ponting, Ajit Agarkar, Russel Arnold, Martin Crowe, Michael Bevan, Mark Butcher, Aakash Chopra, Daryll Cullinan, Michael Holding, Mark Nicholas, Ramiz Raja and Graeme Smith. Also part of the jury were ESPNcricinfo’s senior writers, Sambit Bal, Sharda Ugra, Sidharth Monga, Brydon Coverdale, Mohammad Isam, David Hopps, Osman Samiuddin, Jarrod Kimber, Firdose Moonda, Daniel Brettig, Andrew Fernando and George Dobell.

Winners for each category were picked from shortlists of between nine and 14 performances selected by ESPNcricinfo staff.

Brendon McCullum’s 302 against India was the first triple-hundred by a New Zealander in Tests, and came at the start of a year in which he scored 1164 Test runs.

Mitchell Johnson’s seven for 68 against South Africa in Centurion saw him in arguably more fearsome form than he was during his Ashes-winning performances earlier in the season back home in Australia. It was Johnson’s second consecutive ESPNcricinfo Award in the category.

Rohit Sharma’s 264 against Sri Lanka was his second double-hundred in ODIs (the first won in this category at last year’s ESPNcricinfo Awards), and the third by an Indian, following Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag.

Lasith Malinga, who won in the best ODI bowling category for his 5 for 56 in the Asia Cup final against Pakistan, is also a former ESPNcricinfo Award winner.

Both winning performances in the shortest format came from the World T20: Rangana Herath’s 5 for 3 demolished New Zealand in a tournament Sri Lanka went on to win. Alex Hales won the batting award for his 116 not out against Sri Lanka, which came off 97 balls and took England to a six-wicket win.

ESPNcricinfo editor-in-chief Sambit Bal said, “2014 has been an exciting year of cricket and we saw the emergence of some real champions. We want to reward champions who made a difference to cricket through their performances over the last 12 months. Selecting these winners was a daunting task, to say the least, for all the jury members, considering the immense talent that was on display. We wish the winners all the success in the world, and hope they take the gentleman’s game to greater heights.”

February 19, 2015
ESPNcricinfo launches new series before World Cup

MUMBAI: With the Cricket World Cup less than a month away, cricket portal ESPNcricinfo has launched a new video series called ‘Contenders’.

The series will have former skippers Rahul Dravid and Greame Smith sharing their observations on strength and weaknesses of the teams participating in ICC World Cup 2015. They will also critically analyse the possibilities of each team and determine the key factors in all the teams. Besides analysis on capabilities, the duo will also scrutinize the statistics and predict their progress in the tournament.

The 10 episode series starting 20 January, 2015 will be hosted by Gaurav Kalra and is sponsored by Renault.

ESPNcricinfo editor Sambit Bal said, “At ESPNcricinfo, it has been our constant endeavour to produce high-quality original video programming, and Contenders is yet another step in that direction. It brings together two iconic cricketers who have led their teams at the World Cup to examine the prospects of the 14 teams and their leading players in the cricket’s biggest event.”

January 20, 2015
5 best social media campaigns of 2014 from India: TeamPumpkin

You must have noticed #AlexFromTarget or #IceBucketChallenge being the runaway success of 2014 on social media, both originating in America. India also has its share of viral trends as brands and non profits spent ever increasing portion of their resources on social media to gain eyeballs and engage with their customers.

Every day people on Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels are bombarded with new hashtags, contests and other campaigns to hook them up to brand and social causes. While some campaigns stand out as trending content or on other form of social media metric, many sink without a trace.

Here we present Our Choice of 5 Top Social Media Campaigns of 2014. While these have top of the chart social media metrics to boast, we have limited ourselves to the uniqueness of campaign and engagement it brought with targeted audience.

Nat Geo Cover Shot

National Geographic India launched “My Nat Geo Covershot” on Facebook and amplified the contest on other platforms to gives fans a chance to use their photography skills and get featured on cover of National Geographic. Fans had to upload the photos with suitable caption and also had the chance to win travel packages. The campaign was followed up with daily updates, status and prompt winner announcements. In this period the FB page of National Geographic received millions of likes and generated buzz for the channel.

The USP of the Campaign: Using strength of Facebook as photo showcase platform.

Happy New Year Movie

Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Happy New Year’ released its trailer on social media including Whatsapp. The fans on Twitter and Facebook also interacted with SRK, Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan, Boman Irani, Sonu Sood, Vivaan Shah and Farah Khan including receiving digigraph posters from Film’s official twitter handle. The film hogged the trending topics for many days with hashtags #HNYTrailer, #HNY, #Indiawale #HNYTeamRocksHouston and other related pieces of campaigns. While the star cast was a guaranteed viral generator for the film but the execution team worked well to bring everything under one cohesive plan and generating a heightened buzz before the release. It was reported that the film grossed more than Rs 200 crore during its run.

The USP of the Campaign: Execution of mega launch with coverage across channels and geographies.

Pond’s Selfie Ready

Folks at Hindustan Lever commissioned this campaign to go with latest craze – Selfie. The insight was spot on that while clicking selfies, people are most conscious of their skin. Campaign planners then executed this well by having a microsite as well as using twitter, instagram, youtube and facebook. They gave out skin care tips and kept the interest growing by having a selfie song. The campaign ran for more than a month and remained one of the best remembered social media initiative by a brand this year.

The USP of the Campaign: Deep Brand Insight and using that to build a cohesive campaign.

Rice Bucket Challenge

Close on the heels of Ice Bucket Challenge, The ‘rice bucket challenge’ was the innovative idea of Hyderabad-based Manju Latha Kalanidhi who posted the challenge and asked friends to cook or buy one bucketful of rice and feed the poor in the locality. It was later known that she is a journalist and reports on rice market. “I personally think the [Ice Bucket Challenge] is ideal for the American demographic, but in India, we have loads of other causes to promote”, she elaborated to online news outlet NPR. A facebook page dedicated to the challenge gained nearly 50,000 fans within 10 days besides scores of people from all walks of life donated to the cause and joined the campaign. It was widely covered by print & TV news outlets generating unprecedented buzz for this user generated initiative.

The USP of the Campaign: Simple message and social Good.

Gillette #MyRoleModel

This year father’s day belonged to P&G as it launched Gillette #MyRoleModel campaign targeting Men of 15-45 year age group. The campaign was well executed and had a 360 degree approach with Hashtag embedded TVC, Blogger outreach, Contests and giveaways. The highlight was innovativeness of the selfie campaign where Father-Son duo can put shaving foam and share the picture to win prizes. It was well supported with offline activities where cricketers interacted with fans and chatted about their father being the role models. What helped the brand is that the lead endorser of the campaign Rahul Dravid is himself a role model and a campaign like this around him was sure to generate buzz across channels.

The USP of the Campaign: 360 degree approach.

While now you have a list of top 5 social Media Campaigns of 2014, we can’t resist mentioning one of our in house campaigns that generated similar buzz and engagement for one of our Client.

Tangerine’s #TangerineColorsOfLife

Tangerine, the newest buzz in the Home Fashion Industry, decided to change its positioning to “Colors of Life” in March 2014. Across a 3 month period – April-June, tangerine organised various activities, right from videos regarding some celebs talking about “What Colors Mean to them” to a 12 week long contest asking people what Colors mean to them. The campaign received a huge buzz on social media with more than 22000 entries across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp and Phone. #TangerineColorOfLife hashtag also trended on Twitter for two continuous days. The campaign helped the brand in setting its new positioning correct in the minds of their target customers and also engaged the customers to a great level.

The USP of the campaign: Simplicity and outreach through different channels of Social Media.

(These are purely personal views of teampumpkin.com co-founder Swati Nathani and indiantelevision.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views.)

December 23, 2014
Sachin Tendulkar’s autobiography Playing It My Way released

MUMBAI: The highest run-scorer in the history of international cricket, Sachin Tendulkar who retired in 2013 after playing for an astonishing 24 years is back again. Tendulkar along with publishers Hachette India released his much awaited autobiography, Playing It My Way.

In an hour long event, master of ceremonies Harsha Bhogle took the audience through Tendulkar’s life and the evolution of Indian cricket with interesting on-stage conversations with Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Vasu Paranjpe, and the famed ‘class of ’98’ (with Sourav Ganguli, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar himself). The formal book release saw Tendulkar present the first copy to his first coach and guru Ramakant Achrekar. This was followed by the final session which was a solo conversation with the author himself.

Talking about the events captured in the book Sachin Tendulkar said, “Playing It My Way’ is a different sort of innings for me, and was in the making for the last three years. As with the game, I have been honest and sincere in putting together various aspects of my life, and the book is something I hope readers will enjoy.”

Hachette India managing director Thomas Abraham commented “This is an absolutely outstanding book–at once cricketing history and personal narrative; and will delight every cricketing fan. We are delighted to welcome Sachin Tendulkar to our list and are proud to be publishing this landmark autobiography which we’re sure, like its author will go on to set new records.”

The book has in fact already set the Indian record for the largest adult hardback orders on day of release with 1,00,000 copies being released by the publishers. While lucky guests got the chance to purchase early ‘launch’ copies, the book is heavily embargoed and was transported across the country under security for simultaneous release today.

The book y releases as a hardback and simultaneous eBook from today. An audiobook version will follow early next year as will Indian language versions in Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati, Malayalam and Bengali.

November 6, 2014
Cricketer Rahul Dravid campaigns against tobacco use

NEW DELHI: A new print advertisement has been released by the Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to mark the World No Tobacco Day.

The advertisement features cricketer Rahul Dravid, India’s brand ambassador for Tobacco Control.

The report on “Economic Burden of Tobacco Related Diseases in India” supported by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, and the WHO Country Office for India, was developed by the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI). The report estimates direct and indirect costs from all diseases caused due to tobacco use and four specific diseases namely, respiratory diseases, tuberculosis, cardiovascular diseases and cancers.

The report highlights that tobacco use and the associated costs are creating an enormous burden for the nation. The total economic costs attributable to tobacco use from all diseases in India in the year 2011 amounted to a staggering Rs 1,04,500 crore. Looking through GDP lens this is 1.16 per cent of GDP and 12 per cent more than the combined state and central government expenditure on health care in 2011. According to the report, massive direct medical costs of tobacco attributable diseases amount to Rs 16,800 crore and associated indirect morbidity cost of Rs 14,700 crore. The cost from premature mortality is Rs 73,000 crore, indicating a substantial productive loss to the nation, the report states.

May 30, 2014