Kohli-DP pair in mentorship program
Royal Challengers Bangalore has come up with a unique “mentorship programme” where young cricketers of the IPL outfit have been paired with like-minded seniors who can groom their talent. Explaining this initiative, RCB director of cricket Mike Hesson said every cricketer of the team is paired with a “buddy” from the side, giving each other an opportunity to learn, mentor and share. For example, young opening batsman Devdutt Padikkal has been paired with skipper Virat Kohli, while paceman Navdeep Saini has been paired with veteran South African speedster Dale Steyn.
Uthappa caught applying saliva
In a violation of the ICC's Covid-19 protocol, Rajasthan Royals batsman Robin Uthappa was seen applying saliva on the ball while fielding against KKR in an IPL match on Wednesday. The incident happened right after Uthappa dropped a Sunil Narine skier in the fifth ball of the third over. He was seen applying saliva after collecting the ball at the mid-on region and the video of it has since gone viral on social media.
269 million viewers in 1st week
The opening week of the 13th edition of the IPL was watched by 269 million viewers, 11 million more per match compared to the like period of last year's edition. According to a BARC-Nielsen report titled Television Viewership and Advertising Consumption of IPL-13 2020, the opening week of the ongoing IPL edition saw a 15 per cent growth in viewing minutes as compared to 2019 and witnessed a 21 per cent growth in average impressions per match, despite holding one match less and fewer channels showing the league than in 2019. The tournament, in the first week, registered 60.6 billion viewing minutes across seven matches and 21 channels.
Have used 6-day break well: Fleming
CSK head coach Stephen Fleming on Thursday said the team used the six-day break to “get some clarity around” on what it needed to do to get its IPL campaign back on track. “It came at a good time because the first three games were in quick succession and all games were at different grounds, so you have to appreciate trying to read conditions, for each game being predominantly the first team to play there was tough. “And also coming off a couple of challenges we had off the field, we've used this break pretty well, we got some clarity around what we need to do and have practised very well,” Fleming told the CSK website.