Cricket is more than just a sport in India. While outsiders refer to it as obsession, Indians see the stars as their gods and celebrate the game as their religion. Sachin Tendulkar, one of the modern game’s ambassadors, holds the highest civilian honour in the Indian Republic—the Bharat Ratna. Eleven athletes enter the field with high expectations, and if it’s a World Cup, those expectations increase exponentially. This time, it irritated the current crop of players who have recently set high standards by acting like robots. The T-20 World Cup hosted by the International Cricket Council demonstrated their humanity and vulnerability.
In the opening game, India was defeated by Pakistan. was followed by a further loss against New Zealand. A match between India and Pakistan is always special. It resembles Real Madrid vs. Barcelona Football Club. The Classic.
The excitement was increased by Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s appointment as team mentor and Virat Kohli’s declaration that he will step down as captain following the World Cup, both made by the BCCI. The India vs. West Indies semi-final match from the 2016 ICC tournament held in India set a record for the most minutes seen by fans on the Star India Network, with 1,590 crore, according to the ICC. However, it proved to be biased. Indian cricket supporters have never experienced a setback like as this one as Pakistan won the match by ten wickets.
Team India was eliminated early from a World Cup way back in 2007. Historians refer to India’s 2007 West Indies defeat against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, while they were coached by Rahul Dravid and Greg Chappel, as one of the country’s lowest points in cricket history. Soon after, Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s young team won the inaugural T-20 World Cup in South Africa, ushering in a new era for Indian cricket.
This time, with India set to host New Zealand for a bilateral series, there was no similar incentive to entice fans back. Due to viewer fatigue brought on by back-to-back cricket matches—first the Indian Premier League, then the World Cup—top players from both teams were rested, and fans were dejected. As a result, Star Sports, the BCCI’s official broadcaster, organized games and launched the “Believe In Blue” campaign, encouraging supporters to support the team.
The first Twenty20 match between India and New Zealand attracted 4.9 million TVT (Television Viewership in Thousands) among M15+ AB Urban, according to sources citing data supplied by Star and Disney India. In the 2+ U+R category, the reach was reported to have been 73 million viewers on an absolute basis. Thus, did “Believe In Blue” succeed?
The goal of the campaign, according to Sanjog Gupta, Head of Sports, Star and Disney India, was not to achieve high viewership in a single bilateral series. He describes ‘Believe In Blue’ as a journey that will last till the 2023 ICC ODI World Cup. One such enduring story, “Mauka Mauka,” was produced by Star Sports in 2015, however many people believed it ended abruptly as
In an interview with afaqs!, Sanjog Gupta discusses his vision for “Believe In Blue,” the significance of having a storyline that unites several bilateral tournaments, and—above all—the reason he must invest so much time and effort into developing an invitational campaign for cricket fans in India.
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