Indian television viewers tuning into the opening game of the Indian Premier League’s 11th season on Saturday evening. Well, many changes you might notice in this year IPL. Former Indian cricketer Navjot Sidhu won’t be there in the pre and post-match shows. Neither will there be any cheerleaders with pom poms dancing to Bollywood numbers in the studio. And while there may be celebrity guests from the world of cinema from time to time, they won’t be allowed to promote their films for an hour.
Instead, the IPL’s new broadcaster for the next five seasons, Star Sports, has promised that the focus of its coverage will solely be on the cricket. On the eve of the IPL 2018 opener, Star Sports on Friday launched a new show called “The Dugout”, where its panel of experts will offer in-depth analysis during live matches, aided by technologies such as augmented reality.
The Dugout is essentially an alternative to the world feed of IPL, which is also produced by Star but where commentary is under the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s control. In The Dugout, there won’t be ball-by-ball commentary like in the world feed, but rather a conversation between its panel of experts, including the likes of Anil Kumble, Kumar Sangakkara, Damien Fleming, Dean Jones, Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan, Michael Clarke, Kevin Pietersen and Graeme Smith.