IPL sets record of receiving highest viewership of an opening match in their history
The opening fixture of the IPL 2020 between the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings registered highest-ever opening day viewership for any sporting league globally. For the record, CSK won the game by five wickets to conclude an exciting encounter. IPL 2020 managed to take place despite the ongoing pandemic situation. The tournament is now being held behind closed doors in the UAE with growing infection in India. The concern and delayed action has increased the desperation of cricket fans. Quite clearly indicated by the mammoth figure for the opening clash.
Talking to a Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) survey, BCCI secretary, Jay Shah claimed that a record 20 crore people watched the opener. The game between the Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings on Saturday night was a replay of last year’s final. Despite that, it got a massive audience, as the fans could not enter the stadiums. They were eager for some good Cricket and the IPL gave them just that.
Shah Tweeted on Tuesday post the details were out, “The opening match of #Dream11IPL sets a new record! As per BARC, an unprecedented 20crore people tuned in to watch the match. Highest ever opening day viewership for any sporting league in any country- no league has ever opened as big as this. @IPL@SGanguly99 @UShanx@DisneyPlusHS.”
The Indian Premier League also confirmed the news from its official Twitter account, as the opener broke new records:
“Thank you. It has been a dream start to #Dream11IPL. We have recorded highest ever TV & DIGITAL viewership in IPL history. 200 million viewership – #MIvCSK @ChennaiIPL DelhiCapitals @lionsdenkxip @KKRiders @mipaltan @rajasthanroyals @RCBTweets @SunRisers.”
The anticipation around the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was building on a high with the cancellation of the initial starting date bubbling it up. With around INR 4000 crore at stake, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to shift the season to UAE. All of these accumulated these figure behind the TV sets as stadium visiting fans now are caged at home.
Talking about the match, MS Dhoni created another impressive record of himself after his team won against MI in some style. After returning to competitive action since the World Cup 2019, Dhoni became the first wicketkeeper to take 250 dismissals in T20 history. His lads made sure that their Captain celebrates the record with a win. CSK chased MI’s total of 162 successfully even after losing early wickets with only 8 runs on the board. Faf du Plessis and Ambati Rayudu played an outstanding partnership, with 129 combined runs, to make the day for the yellow brigade. Rohit Sharma’s side didn’t played badly but were out witted by their opposition.
Ahead of IPL 2020 opener, CSK had lost five consecutive matches against Mumbai Indians but this time the case was different. Despite the absence of two senior cricketers in Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh, CSK managed to end their winless streak against the defending champions. The two met in the previous end in a nail biting finale in which Mumbai claim the trophy by winning it just by one run.
Since then, the tournament has picked up pace and we have already had a super-over and some close finishes. Last-over finishes are the speciality of this tournament. Due to this, there is a lot of intensity in the games, despite the absence of the audience.
Though the lack of audience in the stadiums means that the online viewership goes up. However, still, the games still feel intense and that is how the BCCI loves it too. Sourav Ganguly is himself inspecting everything from the ground level.
That is something really good to see. The fans are enjoying the return of the Indian Premier League and will be hoping that the 2020 edition can break some more records. For now, IPL 2020 has everyone involved with it and this is surely good news for the upcoming fixtures.
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