Mumbai: Star Sports, the official broadcaster for VIVO IPL 2019, today unveiled Star Sports Select Dugout 2.0 after last year’s massive success. The Select Dugout, will be aired on Star Sports Select 1 (SD and HD) providing fans with richer analytical experience coupled with a stimulating narrative during matches to stay ahead of the Game.
The Select Dugout panel includes an exclusive and illustrious panel of experts including former captains’ coaches’ and mentors such as debutants Gautam Gambhir (also on Hindi commentary) Brendon McCullum (also on World Feed), Dale Steyn along with Dean Jones, Kumar Sangakkara, Scott Styris, Anil Kumble. Joining them will be Kevin Pietersen, Brett Lee and Graeme Smith who are also a part of the World Feed.
The Dugout, is a bespoke experience that will bring fans closer to the game than last year. Creating deeper fan engagement, the feed will provide detailed analytical commentary. The style and tone with which information will be presented will resonate highly among committed cricket purists. The Select Experience will use graphics and augmented reality (AR), and will also incorporate tweets from players creating a stimulating narrative for fans.
Commenting on the offering this year, Anil Kumble, Select Dugout Expert said, “The advantage of the Select Dugout is that we are bringing in insights both as a player and as a coach and then reading the game as it progresses, and then probably predicting what is going on in the minds of the players; what the batsmen are thinking or what the bowler is thinking and what would be his reaction and try to bring that to the fans. I think that is something which will be very useful for all the viewers, not just them, but also for the players and the team to start thinking about their team and their strategies. We will have to bring in a bit more predictive element in the Select Dugout and perhaps bring in a bit more of analysis and in-depth information in our demo zones.”
Kumar Sangakkara, Select Dugout Expert said, “I think Select Dugout 2.0 has to evolve just like T20 does and keep pace with what the modern cricket fan really wants. Conversational tone of delivery, but in-depth analysis where they can listen and just get a glimpse of how cricketer’s minds work and what strategy and tactics look like, what technique looks like, how a game is set from play-to play and what the set of play in the future can be because of the events that are happening now. It’s a wonderful fan connect, very enlightening insights and just expert analysis.”
Dean Jones, Select Dugout Expert said, “We have more players and technologies coming, along with new analytics and with that I’m just trying to understand the players trends and team trends. We are constantly changing the team, and I think we are getting bigger and better at this as well. We are already giving an informed narrative on how the games are going, we will also probably be a little more predictive and have a better understanding on how it works. The fact that we don’t have the commercial responsibilities as you do on world competitive dugouts, we can give out and give a little bit more understanding on how to play certain bowlers and how to bowl to certain batsmen. We’ve got the fielding pods and all the other technologies to use that we didn’t have before, so that would be great fun.”
Scott Styris, Select Dugout Expert said, “We are going to refine what we have been doing, last year was a learning curve for us all; we got better as we went along. So, we have a better understanding of what was expected of us. And as the tournament went on as well, we were able to get a better picture of what was going on, on the field which allowed us to tell stories about the action as the tournament progressed. We have now a full year of trends and the way teams operate so we can a tell the stories a little better. We’ve got a couple of new gadgets as well to use to add on to it. So, I would like to think that we would be a little more polished about enriching the knowledge, enjoyment and entertainment that the public has.”
