With the 13th edition of Indian Premier League played being behind closed doors in the United Arab Emirates, thousands of fans in India will be missing out on their annual dose of live cricket action at the stadium. But desperate times call for innovative measures. The tournament might be happening far away but the franchises have been doing their part to bring some of the (behind the scenes) action closer to the fans through their digital content.
In this weekly wrap, we take a look at what content the teams have been producing for fans:
Mumbai Indians
The sweet sound of the ball hitting Rohit Sharma’s bat: it would be fair to say not just Mumbai Indians fans, but the entire cricketing world is waiting for that to happen in a match again.
“I have prepared pretty well, and I think great things are coming ahead,” said Hardik Pandya as defending champions Mumbai Indians bank on their star all-rounder to come good again this season.
Kings XI Punjab
With teams stepping up their preparations for the tournament kick-off this weekend, intra-squad games would be the best way to get close to match sharpness. Here are some moments from the KXIP intra-squad game.
But the most popular video from their digital team in the past week was that of their fielding coach, a certain Jonty Rhodes, diving full length take a stunning catch. At 51, he’s still got it.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
In an interview with RCB’s digital team, Ab de Villiers spoke about the weather playing a part in UAE and made an interesting suggestion that the level of cricket might actually go up this season because most players have been raring to get back into action.
And adding more fuel to the fire that he could be back to keeping wickets, RCB posted another photo of de Villiers with the gloves on, this time with captain Virat Kohli keeping a close watch.
Chennai Super Kings
With all the drama surrounding the squad, it must have been nice for the CSK players to finally start training and give it a good go in the middle. The tweet about CSK intra-squad match had footage of MS Dhoni smacking a few big ones too, so obviously fans lapped it up.
Shane Watson’s tweet about two 39-year-olds going at it (him and Dhoni) was obviously going to be a super-hit.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Ever wondered how an IPL team’s training session would look like? This is a cool view from VVS Laxman during SRH’s open nets session.
Kolkata Knight Riders
With Harry Gurney being ruled out, the IPL is set to see participation of a player from the USA for the first time with Kolkata Knight Riders roping in fast bowler Ali Khan for the upcoming edition. He joined the squad along with Andre Russell straight from the Caribbean Premier League.
All you need to know about KKR pacer Ali Khan, the first American to feature in IPL
No Indian cricket fan (or Bangladesh’s) can forget the Nidahas Trophy match in Sri Lanka where Dinesh Karthik went ballistic in the last two overs of a run-chase. Here, in this short clip, the KKR captain appears to be in a similar zone.
Delhi Capitals
By all accounts this is going to be a massive IPL season for Rishabh Pant, and he seems to be gearing up for it with some massive hits during the training sessions.
How cool it must to be to have one of the greatest players the game has ever seen stand next to you during a practice session and pass on pearls of wisdom?
Rajasthan Royals
There are many ways to perform a jersey launch but using a skydiver to do it has to be the most unique and adventurous way.
For this season, Royals have teamed up with Niine India to raise awareness about menstrual health. It is a commendable initiative.
Let’s talk period: IPL side Rajasthan Royals’ partnership with sanitary napkin brand is significant
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