IPL gets ESPNcricinfo makeover for 2013 season

With the IPL 2013 season starting tomorrow, ESPNcricinfo is launching a range of products and sections for cricket fans across its online and mobile services.

The new sections and products combine with ESPNcricinfo’s coverage of the sport including match reports, news, analysis and stats to deliver comprehensive coverage of the IPL across digital devices.

Social scorecard

ESPNcricinfo Match Companion is the first-ever ‚’Social’ scorecard for cricket in time for the IPL 2013 season. Providing a second-screen match experience, combines standard scorecard information and stats with the functionality of social media allowing fans to connect and engage with other fans and friends to chat, debate, play games, follow the chatter on Twitter and have tools to access in-depth stats, information and analysis.

Live and dynamic during every match of the IPL 2013 season, and available across personal computers and tablet devices, fans can use Match Companion while watching a match to enjoy:

· Deeper Engagement access a rich trove of stats, news and player info.

· Fan interaction & discussion Interact with other fans while following the match on digital devices and engage in the social currency of the debate and discussion, sharing their opinion and hearing from others.

· All the matches: Follow all other matches simultaneously

¬∑ Live espncricinfo commentary ESPNcricinfo’s world class commentators will keep users updated with ball by ball coverage and description.

· Chatterbox Live discussions during the match between users and ESPNCricinfo the editorial team of writers and journalists, including discussions about team selection, strategy, toss decision and the progress of the match.

¬∑ Live graphs At the end of every over, a live graph pictorially depicts how the match is progressing, the flight of each ball in the past over and acts as a clear indicator of each of the team’s performance.

· Facebook live chat A direct plug-in into your Facebook account, users can chat with friends who are online on the site at that time.

· Timelines Classic summarization of every ball of every over in a horizontal presentation.

· Games & contests fans can participate in contests and games, such as Predictor, an application where users can predict who according to them could be the top scorer or leading wicket taker during a match.

¬∑ ESPNcricinfo Twitter Follow the who’s who of cricket on twitter on the same screen even as the match unfolds – fans can catch all their live opinions and whacky tweets in a single interface in real-time.

The Stands

A pioneer in innovative content and products, ESPNcricinfo has again led the industry and launched a first-of-its-kind online forum designed entirely around cricket fans and their voice. The Stands is for fans, by fans and of the fans. From detailed fan reports and commentary to photographs shot by fans and creative captioning of pictures, from polls on hot topics to tweet-sized comments, The Stands has numerous touch points for fans to sound off, speak up, discuss and debate all of this and more, while still tracking ESPNcricinfo’s famed coverage of cricket from around the world. Among the many things to see in The Stands:

· Ask Rahul: In a weekly video segment, the legendary Indian cricketer Rahul Dravid answers one fans question about the game, his career or other relevant cricket topics.

· The Inbox: Articles and commentary from fans, writing on the aspects of the game that they hold are most passionate about.

· Fan following: A section for users to write in with their experiences from the stadium, capturing the thoughts of fans from the stands.

¬∑ Have your say: The section allows fans to state their views, debate, and respond to other fans’ views .

· Social media: full integration of the dynamic ESPNcricinfo social media content, including Twitter feeds and ESPNcricinfo live blogging.

· Your Shots: Fan Photo Galleries and photo-driven features.

· Games, contests and quizzes: Fans will be able to play cricket-themed games like crossword puzzles, suduku and Hangman, as well take quizzes and submit their most creative photo captions in Caption Contest all for the chance at prizes.

The Cordon

ESPNcricinfo’s The Cordon is a single home for the work of a group of the most respected sports journalists and bloggers in cricket. Fans around the world can read and follow the latest stories and musings on an unmatched collection of writers, listen to podcasts, comment, discuss and share with fans and friends.

Among the contributors to The Cordon are: Sambit Bal, Andy Zaltsman, Alison Mitchel, Andrew Hughes, Jarrod Kimber, Anantha Narayanan, Kamran Abbasi, Samir Chopra, Paul Ford, Dave Hawksworth, Jon Hotten, Michael Jeh, Raf Nicholson, Mahesh Sethuraman, Jack Shantry, Safi Thind, Michel van Oorschot, Stuart Wark, Jonathan Wilson and more.

The Cordon delivers a new doorway to what fans have come to expect from ESPNcricinfo: a collection of the best, most interesting and thought provoking writing and discussion of the game.

Bose, Bhogle and Player Diaries

Among the many notable contributors to the ESPNcricinfo coverage are Indian actor, screenwriter and director Rahul Bose, who will author a blog on ESPNcricinfo focused on the socio-cultural aspects of the IPL.

Well-known commentator Harsha Bhogle will file a weekly video diary for ESPNcricinfo through the duration of the tournament, Harsha’s IPL Weekly. Additionally, ESPNcricinfo will feature player diaries throughout the IPL 2013 season, with players sharing their experiences of being on the road.

The Huddle: Daily Google+ hangouts

Each day of IPL action in 2013, ESPNcricinfo will host The Huddle a 15-20 minute video show via Google+ Hangout in which its leading journalists will discuss the IPL action. Hosted by Cricinfo’s editorial team that includes eminent names like Sambit Bal and Sharda Ugra, and featuring journalists, writers, players, commentators and experts, the shows will be an off-beat take on the matches, tactics, gaffes, controversies, off-field action and results. Videos of the discussions will be available on-demand to view live on ESPNcricinfo and on its Google+ page.

Additionally, each week during the IPL season, ESPNcricinfo will host a Google+ Hangout where fans can join the brand’s leading cricket journalists to engage in discussion, debate and dialogue.

Last Monday, ESPNcricinfo hosted an hour-long Google+ Hangout with Indian cricket legend Rahul Dravid. Moderated by Raunak Kapoor, the event gave nine lucky fans the chance to spend an hour chatting about the game they share a passion for. Dravid answered questions from the fans and discussed the latest cricket news and looked ahead to the start of the 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL) season in two weeks time. Highlights from Dravid’s comments can be read here, and video of the entire event can be seen here.

Afterward, Dravid said of the event: ‚”It was great fun and is a new way for me to connect with fans, which have played such a special role to me throughout my career. The team at ESPNcricinfo has always been at the front of the line when it comes to innovative ways to connect fans with the game, and this opportunity is another example of that.‚”

Fantasy cricket and predictor games

ESPNcricinfo will give fans two new games this season, the ESPNcricinfo Indian T20 Fantasy Game and a new ESPNcricinfo Cricket Predictor game on Facebook.

ESPNcricinfo Cricket Predictor: Through this Facebook app, cricket fans can sign in and play with friends, predicting the winner of each matchup during the 2013 IPL season, compete against other fans and friends and share their predictions on social media.

ESPNcricinfo Indian T20 Fantasy: Fans around the world can get in on the Indian T20 season by playing ESPNcricinfo’s newest Cricket Fantasy game. Create your team, set up and join public or private leagues, select players within a budget, make changes to your team via transfers, score points based on your teams performance and more.

ESPNCRICINFO IPL TRAVEL GUIDES

ESPNcricinfo features a special Travel section for the IPL 2013, delivering guides for fans travelling to each of the IPL destination cities. For each of the cities, fans have a single place to learn about the city, the stadium, where to stay if you visit, where to eat and party while you are there, what are the nearby ‚”Must Do’s‚”, tips for travellers, photo galleries and more. Including expert input and tips, as well as user submitted insights and local knowledge the ESPNcricinfo Travel section is a central repository for all the information that IPL fans need to travel and experience the matches and their host cities – in person.

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