The Indian cricket team's first tour of New Zealand since early 2020 ended up being a seamless experience for digital users in India. Prime Video, since venturing into live streaming one of the most followed sports in India, took their coverage a notch higher with six white-ball matches. To raise the stakes, a bunch of journalists were invited to the country in order to experience up front and personal just how remarkable the efforts put in are.
If assembling a star-studded group of commentators was not impressive enough, Prime Video conducted a pre-series press conference featuring former India coach and all-rounder Ravi Shastri, along with the legendary pacer Zaheer Khan. The two previous World Cup winners addressed some of the burning questions from the media, delivering riveting answers. Shastri spoke about the Indian cricket team's roadmap ahead and addressed coach Rahul Dravid's break after the World Cup, whereas Zaheer stressed on the importance of fast bowling.
To make matters more interesting, once the pack of reporters arrived in New Zealand, they were treated to some excellent coverage. Not only did they get to witness the second and third T20Is in Mount Maunganui, Tauranga and Napier, where the likes of Suryakumar Yadav Tim Southee and Hardik Pandya stoke the show with some breathtaking performances, the journalists realised the rising fanbase of Indian cricket in New Zealand.
Fans turned out in numbers to get a glimpse of their favourite cricketers. Despite rain trying its best to play spoilsport, the crowd was treated to something special. The Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui and the McLean Park in Napier became the centre of attention as the Men in Blue and BlackCaps battled for T20I supremacy. Over the years, India and New Zealand have formed a formidable rivalry, with the two teams facing each other in numerous ICC events and bilateral series. The two teams squared off in the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup and the final of the inaugural World Test Championship. And with the BlackCaps emerging victorious on both occasions, fans rallied behind Team India to even the odds.
{{/usCountry}}Fans turned out in numbers to get a glimpse of their favourite cricketers. Despite rain trying its best to play spoilsport, the crowd was treated to something special. The Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui and the McLean Park in Napier became the centre of attention as the Men in Blue and BlackCaps battled for T20I supremacy. Over the years, India and New Zealand have formed a formidable rivalry, with the two teams facing each other in numerous ICC events and bilateral series. The two teams squared off in the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup and the final of the inaugural World Test Championship. And with the BlackCaps emerging victorious on both occasions, fans rallied behind Team India to even the odds.
{{/usCountry}}And as a result, the next few days saw some mind-blowing coverage from Prime Video. The journalists, who are always in hunt for stories, were handed exclusive interviews and proper access to post-match press conferences. Unlike the norm, full freedom was provided to them and there were no restrictions when it came to asking questions. That their queries were answered eloquently was the cherry on top. Besides, the reporters were offered a view of the Hindi and English commentary box, where all the behind-the-scenes action takes place. The likes of Ajay Jadeja, Ajit Agarkar, Gaurav Kapur, Vivek Razdan, Shastri and Zaheer were in attendance and getting to see them from close quarters is an experience they will cherish for a long time.
Furthermore, the timely sharing of pre-match pressers and other audio/visual coverage has allowed websites to get copies up timely, something rival platforms have been unsuccessful in despite repeated requests. Prime Video has been an exception, and a rather good one at that, keeping up with the ever-evolving practices of digital streaming. Add to that, the benefit of replaying the live feed, access to the entire replay of a match – be in T20I or ODIs – are some of the features that gives Prime Video the edge over its competitors.
Couple it with some phenomenal bandwidth – no buffering – no needless advertisements – and most importantly, not cutting into commercials just when a wicket falls or immediately at the end of an over is a feature die-hard cricket fans have been craving for far too long. Prime Video has ticked all boxes and the number of hits has overshadowed the misses by quite some distance.