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Cricket draws 93% of sports viewers in India reports BARC

Agencies
June 4, 2019

London, Jun 4: Cricket is the jewel in the crown of rising sports viewership in the country, with 93 per cent of all sports viewers in 2018 tuning to cricket content, and women form a chunk of the audience, according to a BARC India report.

As many as 766 million viewers sampled sports content in 2018. It grew from 43 billion impressions in 2016 to 51 billion impressions, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9 per cent, according to the report that comes amidst the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup.

The impressions is defined as the number of individuals in thousands of a target audience who viewed an 'event', averaged across minutes.

Highlighting key insights, Romil Ramgarhia, Chief Operating Officer, Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India, told IANS: "Although other sports are making their presence felt on television, cricket continues to be the most watched sport in India. The broad fan base of cricket is evident from the fact that women constitute 48 per cent of viewers.

"Also, growth in cricket viewership is increasingly coming from regional language broadcasts. It's visible from non-English consumption rising from 77 per cent in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 to 81 per cent in IPL 2019, and now it's being telecast in 7 languages. The wide range of formats and tournaments, increasing viewer interest in women's cricket, international T20 leagues and domestic competitions are driving cricket viewership to new highs," Ramgarhia said.

While other sports like kabaddi, wrestling and football are gaining popularity among Indians, cricket draws in the maximum viewers.

With 342 million women formed 48 per cent of cricket viewers in 2018. Youth (15-30 years) continues to dominate cricket consumership with 35 per cent of live cricket viewership coming from this segment in 2019.

In the live cricket segment, the T20 World Cup in 2016 and the Champions Trophy in 2017 contributed 21 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively, to the total cricket viewership.

The absence of any major International Cricket Council (ICC) event resulted in 28 per cent drop in the international cricket viewing for 2018, while IPL in 2018 grew 19 per cent over the previous year.

IPL is a mainstay in the regular Indian home and dominates sports viewership in the weeks it's on air. The homegrown league, in its 11th edition, dominated the annual cricket viewership with 40 per cent share. Interestingly, 50 per cent IPL viewers are below 30 years of age.

As far as the impact on the advertising industry is concerned, e-commerce has emerged as the dominant sector with share of ads going up from 14 per cent in 2016 to 42 per cent in 2018, whereas smartphones and telecom ads have decreased from 24 per cent in 2016 to 11 per cent in 2018, the report said.

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News Network
June 15,2020

Melbourne, Jun 15: Star Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is the best fielder in the game right now, according to Australian batting star Steve Smith, who also rated KL Rahul as the most impressive among the younger crop.

Smith, who answered questions sent in by his fans on Instagram on Sunday, also said the Indian Premier League is his favourite tournament to play in.

Jadeja known for his quick and sharp fielding tactics has earned praise from several former players and respect from the current stars and Smith is no different.

Asked who the best fielder in the current lot of players Smith simply replied stating it was Jadeja.

When quizzed about which Indian player has impressed him the most, the Australian batting mainstay said: "KL Rahul. Very good player!"

Rahul, who has played 36 Tests, 32 ODIs and 42 T20Is for Indian, has become a regular member of the national team in white-ball cricket. Besides showcasing his skills with the willow, Rahul also bears the responsibility of being the wicketkeeper in the limited overs format.

Asked Mahnedra Singh Dhoni, Smith responded saying the former Indian skipper is a "Legend! Mr Cool". While he called the current captain Virat Kohli a "freak" when it comes to batting ability.

The Rajasthan Royals batsman, who rated his first innings his 144 at Birmingham in the first Ashes Test last year as his favourite Test knock till date, said the Indian Premier League (IPL) is his favourite tournament.

"Tough to beat the IPL. Playing with and against the best players from around the world."

India is scheduled to travel to Australian for a full series later the year and the 31-year-old said : "Can''t wait. Going to be awesome."

Asked about his opinion on India batting great Rahul Dravid, Smith said "what a lovely gentleman and seriously good player."

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Agencies
July 31,2020

Hampshire, Jul 31: David Willey's maiden five-wicket haul guided England to a six-wicket victory over Ireland in the first ODI here on Friday.

With this win, the hosts have taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series.

Chasing a small target of 173 runs, England got off to a bad start as opener Jonny Bairstow was given LBW in the third over, bowled by Andy McBrine. Jason Roy was then joined by James Vince and the duo added 22 runs on the board before the former was dismissed.

Craig Young then got hold of Vince, who was caught behind after scoring 25 runs. Sam Billings and Tom Banton then took the charge of the chase but the latter too was caught behind which ended his 11-run innings.

Banton's dismissal brought skipper Eoin Morgan on the field. Billings and Morgan played stunning innings and kept scoring boundaries. Morgan struck a scintillating six on the last bowl of the 28th over to take England over the line. Morgan scored 36 runs while Billings played a knock of 67 runs.

Earlier, after being asked to bat first, Ireland witnessed a poor start as Paul Stirling was dismissed in the very first over of the innings, bowled by Willey. Andy Balbirnie then joined Gareth Delany but Willey struck again in his next over, removing Balbirnie.

Delany then played furiously and smashed three consecutive boundaries to Saqib Mahmood in the fourth over. However, the fall of wickets did not stop as England took three wickets in quick succession. Mahmood bowled Harry Tector while Delany and Lorcan Tucker were sent back to the pavilion by Willey.

Kevin O'Brien and Curtis Campher then took the charge and played cautiously, taking their struggling side over the 50-run mark. Adil Rashid got hold of O'Brien (22) in the 22nd over before Simranjit Singh was run out in the same over.

Andy McBrine was the next batsman and he played brilliantly along with Campher, who went on to complete his half-century. Both formed a 66-run partnership before McBrine (40) was dismissed by Tom Curran.

Campher remained unbeaten on 59 but failed to find a partner as England bundled out Ireland on 172 runs.

The second ODI between both teams will be played on Saturday.

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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 10: India's under-19 cricket team manager Anil Patel says the ICC has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by Bangladesh players after their World Cup triumph and will be reviewing the footage of the final game's "last few minutes".

Some Bangladeshi players got carried away while celebrating their historic three-wicket win over India in the final on Sunday. While their captain Akbar Ali apologised for the "unfortunate incident", his Indian counterpart Priyam Garg said their reaction was "dirty".

"We don't know what actually happened," Patel told 'ESPNCricinfo' on Sunday.

"Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don't know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know," he said.

Even when the match was on, the Bangladesh players were overly aggressive while fielding and their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledged the Indian batsmen after every delivery.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and displaying aggressive body language. The two teams nearly came to blows before the situation was defused by the coaching staff and on-field officials.

Patel claimed that match referee Graeme Labrooy met him and expressed regret at what transpired on the field.

"The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session. They are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning (Monday)."

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