CHENNAI: MS Dhoni is changing the field. Harbhajan Singh, supposedly after taking a wicket, is ecstatic. There is a single shot of a section of a crowd going bonkers. All these three seemingly random clips are in a montage of the promo of the IPL final on Sunday.
Shots of CSK players in the promo is fine, because they qualified for it on Tuesday. Interestingly enough, the advertisement, which has Hotstar written on the bottom of a 10-second clip that was first posted on Twitter on Wednesday, also featured few KKR players.
It showed two KKR openers walking out to bat before it cut to Sunil Narine batting. After the image faded to black, there is a message to interested viewers. “Catch the action of VIVO IPL 2018 final,” it said.
“More cricket.” Unsurprisingly, the leaked promo set tongues wagging.
“How come Hotstar made this video even before the play-offs were completed?” was a question that kept repeating in various forms on social media and websites.
A few even shouted ‘fixed’, as speculation reached fever pitch when Sunrisers struggled with the bat — not an unfamiliar theme in this edition — against KKR in Qualifer 2 on Friday.
However, if insiders are to be believed, this doesn’t imply that Hotstar, who holds the league’s digital rights, knew about the outcome of the play-off between KKR and SRH before the first ball was bowled.
They suggested that considering there is little turnaround time between the end of the play-off stage and the final, all ads of this nature are usually edited and kept ready.
“I know the leaked video imagined a CSK vs KKR final but trust me when I say that they would have made a CSK vs SRH version of the final as well,” an insider pointed out. It really doesn’t indicate a fix or anything, that’s usually how broadcasters work.
Fun with KXIP stars
Manyavar, the official celebration wear partner of KXIP, recently hosted a meet and greet session with players at the Bharat Woolen House store of Mohey and Manyavar in Pune.
David Miller, Manoj Tiwary, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mayank Agarwal and Ben Dwarshuis attended the event. They were welcomed in Punjabi style, with drum beats and bhangra.
The players interacted and engaged in activities with visitors. Mohit and other players provided fun by mimicking famous dialogues from Bollywood films.
Fans had a chance to click selfies with the stars. The players explored the store and bought Manyavar goodies for themselves, family and friends.