As usual, fans screamed and applauded when IPL stars Parthiv Patel, Thisara Perera and Quinton De Kock made an appearance at the City Center mall located at Banjara Hills on Monday. What was unusual though was the chance for them to bowl out some of their favourite players. One of them even managed the feat by bowling out Quinton De Cock and walked away with `10,000 cheque.
Hosted by Kingfisher premium, the Kingfisher ‘Bowl Out’ gave 14 contestants a chance to knock the wickets down of the IPL players. While 12 contestants were selected from more than 5000 entries collected online and offline, two more contestants entered the competition through wild cards.
Each contestant was given three chances to bowl. If they bowled out the cricketer the first time, they would bag Rs 50,000, while on any other chance, they’d only score Rs 10,000. Despite trying to outsmart their targets through some cunning left and right handed moves, contestants hit a wall with the bastion of IPL batsmen. Just as it seemed that nobody would be able to get a score, Venkat, a resident of Uppal, bowled out Quinton on his third try, earning a “Superb” comment from Quinton. The MBA graduate student who just returned from Wales university, London, was praised by the cricketer for his bowling skills.
A visibly thrilled Venkat said, “It was quiet unexpected. I am not a big player nor am I really big fan of the game.” Besides the prize, Venkat was also the recipient of three miniature cricket bats signed respectively by De Kock, Perera and Patel.
“We were surprised to see a few of them bowl very well. It was double the fun,” Parthiv Patel shared as he fended bowls from fans.
The Kingfisher ‘Bowl Out’ will travel to five other cities other than Hyderabad, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Jaipur and Chandigarh.